Supporting people with learning disabilities to rent their own place
The ‘supporting people with learning disabilities to rent their own place’ project was funded by the National Institute for Health Research, School for Social Care Research (opens new window), and is a collaboration between researchers at the universities of York (opens new window) & Bristol (opens new window); housing provider Riverside (opens new window); Learning Disability England (opens new window); doodler and community printmaker, Stephen Lee Hodgkins (opens new window); and the Housing LIN.
The project team also included an advisory group of people with learning disabilities who rent their own homes and who also belong to self-advocacy groups including York People First (opens new window) and My Life, My Choice (opens new window).
The research was trying to understand the ways that people with learning disabilities who are on the ‘edges’ of social care can be better supported to access and enjoy living in their own tenancies in the community.
In the first part of the project, the research team organised one national and eight regional roundtable events held on zoom in early 2021 attended by over 100 professionals and experts by experience, including:
- people with learning disabilities
- family carers
- advocates
- social care staff
- social and private housing providers
- representatives from local authorities
- the NHS and voluntary and community organisations
- and key national policy experts.
The findings from the first part of the project are now available. This blog post reveals what some of the key messages were from the early project findings and explains what the next stage of research involves.