New subsidies for improving housing accessibility where people with disabilities live

“La meva llar” [my home], a new subsidies programme for promoting physical and communicational accessibility improvements in homes where people with a disability and/or reduced mobility live and for enabling independent living at home, is being launched by the Municipal Institute of People with Disabilities (IMPD). It helps to include such people in the community by encouraging them to leave residential homes and living with greater personal independence.

26/09/2020 10:27 h

Ajuntament de Barcelona

The beneficiaries will be those who have an officially recognised disability at a level equal to or above 33% on their disability certificate and a positive figure on their reduced-mobility scale, or have a recognised disability equal to or above 65%. One of the requirements is for applicants to be officially registered as having been resident in the dwelling the subsidy is being applied for, for a minimum period of one year before the date of their application, irrespective of whether they are owners, lessees or beneficial tenants of the dwelling, and that it is their regular and permanent residence.

The renovations eligible for subsidies will be classed under three different areas of action:

  • Home repairs or work: renovation of the home’s interior spaces so they are accessible, usable and functional, such as replacing a bathtub with a shower base or adapting a kitchen by changing the height of its tables.
  • Introducing automated or robotic features to the home: allowing the triggering or activation of several of the home’s parts or appliances, such as the automation of outside shutters and doors. Also provided for are installations of features such as overhead lifts and use of robots providing assistance services for guidelines that the person has to follow.
  • Incorporating feature that improve the home’s communicational accessibility: appliances that generally incorporate visual, acoustic or tactile features, signals or messages that enable increased independence of people with sensory disabilities, such as materials marked out in braille, speaking appliances with synthetic voices and visual/acoustic/vibratory notification devices.

The maximum amount of amount for subsidies for accessibility renovations, automated features and accessibility technology in homes will be final and vary between 5,000 euros and 10,000 euros depending on the type and degree of disability. For amounts under or equal to 2,000 euros, 100% of the initiative’s cost will be eligible for subsidy.

Applications can be submitted from Monday, 28 September to Wednesday, 9 November.

This programme is enshrined in the Municipal Personal Assistance Service’s Independent Living Model. Budgeted at 475,000 euros, which can be expanded to up to 1,000,000 euros, it will be promoting projects not just already in progress but also, in the case of automated or robotic initiatives, projects carried out this year.

The Municipal Institute of People with Disabilities is offering information and advice on this programme. You can book a prior appointment or get in touch with the Public Assistance Service by emailing to sap@bcn.cat or calling 934 132 775 (Mondays to Fridays, from 9.30 am to 1.30 pm).

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