From 'special needs' housing to independent living?

How best to combine housing and support services for frail elderly people and for people with learning difficulties, mental health problems and physical disabilities is a long established debate in most industrialised countries. This debate occurs in the context of concerns to identify the extent of unmet need through such mechanisms as 'special needs' housing surveys. This article draws upon a 'special needs' housing survey. However, the emphasis is not upon the 'facts' uncovered about existing provision and levels of unmet need, but rather about the principles which need to underpin local policy debates and the implication of these for service developments at the locality level. The principles proposed include a commitment to citizenship, the need to combine appropriate housing with appropriate support and the importance of partnership with service users. The final section of the article explores the implications of such principles for policy developments at the local level by discussing survey findings relating to elderly people and physically disabled people