The Scottish Government

Housing for Older People and those with Disabilities

Housing for older people and those with disabilities is provided by both public authorities and housing associations. In addition, programmes such as Supporting People have helped to meet specific housing needs of older and other vulnerable people to give them the opportunity to continue to live in their own homes. Housing for people with varying needs is currently mainly classified as very sheltered, sheltered, medium dependency, adapted for wheelchair and ambulant disabled, although figures can vary from year to year as dwellings may be adapted to suit the particular needs of tenants, or re-classified by providers.

• Overall, the amount of very sheltered accommodation has shown consistent increases every year, rising from about 700 in 1996 to 5,100 in 2008.
• Figures for sheltered accommodation have remained fairly constant during the past 10 years at about 33,000-35,000 units, while the less specialised medium dependency housing has shown an overall drop from 17,600 to 12,900 units since 1996.
• Wheelchair adapted housing has increased from 2,300 in 1996 to 5,700 in 2008.