A Delphi study of occurring information in housing adaptation certificates

Since 1993, the Housing Adaptation Act has provided disabled people the opportunity to receive grants for adapting their homes. A housing adaptation certificate certifying the necessity of adaptations must accompany any application and if information in housing adaptation certificates is not sufficient, the applicant is risking not having necessary housing adaptations.

The aim of this study was to identify and describe what information is missing, unnecessary or vague, in the housing adaptation certificates; to determine how often this occur, and how problematic this can be for the decision process.

105 housing adaptation grant managers took part in a three-round Delphi survey.

At least 65% consensus was reached regarding the following six statements: missing information about disability duration, possession of relevant assistive devices, consequences of the disability in housing, prognosis of consequences, who the informant is, or contains preferences for specific solutions. Missing, unnecessary or vague information pose serious or less serious problems and 38-72% of the participants reported that this often or always occur.

Housing adaptation certificates need to be improved.

The results of this study are used to design a checklist for use by housing adaptation certificate writers.