Adequate housing is more than just shelter; it's a cornerstone of a healthy, dignified life. It encompasses safety, affordability, accessibility, sufficient space, privacy, security, basic services (water, sanitation, electricity), and protection from the elements. These elements promote well-being, enabling individuals to thrive (Gupta et al., 2020).
Inaccessible housing disproportionately affects persons with disabilities, hindering their independence and daily activities. This, in turn, limits their autonomy, economic prospects, and overall quality of life. Globally, the need for adequate housing is growing, with billions struggling to afford suitable living spaces, and many residing in informal settlements without basic amenities (United Nations, 2025). For persons with disabilities, adequate housing must go beyond physical structures to include security, accessibility, affordability, and social inclusion.
India alone faces a significant urban housing shortage, estimated at 18.78 million houses for the period 2012-2017 (MoSPI, nd). A critical aspect of this shortage is that 95% of the gap is for low-income households (Batra 2021). An estimated 26-37 million households live in informal housing such as slums and unauthorised housing (Batra 2021). While the Constitution recognises housing as integral to the right to life, the RPDA 2016 specifically promotes accessible, suitable, and non-discriminatory housing for persons with disabilities. However, effective implementation remains a challenge.
This article examines the provision of adequate housing for persons with disabilities, offering recommendations for improvement. It's crucial to consider aspects detailed in General Comment 4 of the CESCR, including: -
- Legal security of tenure: Ensuring protection from eviction and addressing gender-specific obstacles (UN OHCHR, n.d.).
- Availability of services: Guaranteeing access to essential services like water, sanitation, and emergency support, often denied to persons with disabilities.
- Affordability: Designing inclusive housing schemes and subsidies that don't disadvantage those with disabilities, who are more likely to face unemployment.
- Habitability: Creating livable spaces that meet universal design standards, facilitating in-home support when needed.
- Accessibility: Prioritising accessibility for all, especially disadvantaged groups.
- Location: Ensuring proximity to employment, healthcare, education, and accessible transportation in both urban and rural areas.
- Cultural adequacy: Respecting and enabling cultural identity, considering the diverse intersectionality of disability (UNGA, 2017).
Key principles for disability-inclusive housing include:
- Recognising the right to an adequate standard of living: Guaranteeing access to public housing, clean water, and disability-related assistance while preventing forced evictions.
- Ensuring Non-discrimination: Promoting universal design and reasonable accommodation in housing and transportation. -
- Equal recognition before the law: Providing supported decision-making to enable legal capacity and secure housing tenure.
- Principle of participation: Involving persons with disabilities in policy and program development.
- Access to information: Providing accessible information about housing options and rights. -
- Right to live independently and in the community: Ensuring the freedom to choose one's residence and access community support services.
- Right to accessible housing: Mandating accessible environments, transportation, information, and services, including financial services like housing loans.
To realise these rights, it is crucial to address remaining barriers through:
- Non-Discriminatory Legislation and Policies: Enacting laws that promote non-discrimination, reasonable accommodations, and supported decision-making to enable land tenure.
- Adopting deinstitutionalisation policies and practices: Investing in inclusive communities and eliminating discrimination based on disability status.
- Gathering, analysing, and using disaggregated data on disability: Informing policies and measuring progress effectively.
- Fulfilling the right to live independently and in the community: Providing housing choices, support services, and accessible community services.
- Eliminating environmental barriers: Adhering to universal design principles, ensuring access to inclusive WASH facilities and reliable energy.
- Addressing intersectional and compounding barriers: Recognising that persons with disabilities are not a homogenous group and often face multiple forms of discrimination.
- Providing comprehensive training and education: Training all relevant stakeholders on disability rights, universal design, and supported decision-making.
- Providing participation and access to resources/opportunities: Including persons with disabilities in decision-making processes and ensuring access to educational, economic, social, and cultural life.
- Developing effective and independent monitoring and complaint mechanisms: Ensuring accountability for discrimination and rights violations.
- Prioritising the upgrading of informal settlements: Addressing housing shortages through affordable and inclusive approaches, allowing households to invest and gain tenure security incrementally (UN Habitat, 2015).
- Preventing demolitions of informal settlements: Preventing demolitions without adequate resettlement and improving security of tenure for all, particularly for persons with disabilities.
Providing adequate housing for persons with disabilities requires a shift in societal perception, mandating their central role in urban planning and policy. This ensures their inclusion and dignity, and dismantling systemic barriers to full participation.
References -
Batra, Manpreet. 2021. India’s Enduring Urban Housing Shortage: The Case for Upgrading Informal Settlements. ORF. https://www.orfonline.org/research/indias-enduring-urban-housing-shortage (July 21, 2025).
Gupta, Shivani, Meershoek, Agnes, and Witte, Luc. P. 2020. ‘Dimensions of Invisibility: Insights into the Daily Realities of Persons with Disabilities Living in Rural Communities in India’. Disability & Society. https://www-tandfonline-com.libproxy.ucl.ac.uk/doi/full/10.1080/09687599.2020.1788509#abstract (July 21, 2025).
MoSPI. nd. Housing. MoSPI. https://mospi.gov.in/sites/default/files/Statistical_year_book_india_chapters/ch28.pdf (July 21, 2025).
UN Habitat. 2015. The Right to Adequate Housing for Persons with Disabilities Living in Cities. https://unhabitat.org/the-right-to-adequate-housing-for-persons-with-disabilities-living-in-cities (July 21, 2025).
UN OHCHR. Human Right to Right to Adequate Housing. Geneva, Switzerland. https://www.ohchr.org/en/special-procedures/sr-housing/human-right-adequate-housing (July 19, 2025).
UNGA. 2017. Adequate Housing as a Component of the Right to an Adequate Standard of Living, and the Right to Non-Discrimination in This Context. https://ap.ohchr.org/documents/dpage_e.aspx?si=A/72/128 (July 19, 2025).
United Nations. 2025. The Sustainable Development Goals Report. https://unstats.un.org/sdgs/report/2025/ (July 21, 2025).
