EASPD hosts “A Home For All” annual conference in Oslo

The European Association of Service Providers for Persons with Disabilities (EASPD) held its annual conference in Oslo this weekend bringing together representatives from a wide array of social sectors.

The conference, entitled “A Home For All,” aimed to address a number of issues relating to housing for people with disabilities including the rights of those seeking accommodation and how the latter can be suitably protected by social service providers.

Introduced by Franz Wolfmayr, the President of the organisation, the discussions and presentations were made in the framework of Article 19 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, which refers to the promotion of independent living and the support of people with disabilities to live in the community.

Among the other speakers at the event was the recently-appointed UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Adequate Housing, Leilana Farha, who outlined, in a video-message to the delegation, the need to place people with disabilities at the centre of the consultation process thus ensuring that service providers are adequately meeting demand.

Dominic Richardson of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) also addressed the issue of housing as a human right. In his presentation based on policy research, he underlined that only two per cent of national governmental budgets are reserved for social housing policies, showing the need for a human rights-based approach to housing demand from people with disabilities.

The conference was drawn to a close by Luk Zelderloo, EASPD Secretary General, who advocated for steps to be taken towards a human rights approach within the social services sector and not that of “patronised provision”.

To find out more about EASPD’s Oslo annual conference, you can visit the site here.