A/HRC/25/54/Add.2 these reforms were already raised in 2012: “The range of reforms proposed to housing benefit, Disability Living Allowance, the Independent Living Fund, and changes to eligibility criteria risk interacting in a particularly harmful way for disabled people. … As a result, there seems to be a significant risk of retrogression of independent living and a breach of the UK’s Article 19 [CRPD] obligations.”82 The Department for Work and Pensions has made available additional funding under the DHP scheme to assist those affected by this measure, but, as noted above, DHPs are time-bound and limited in scope. 66. According to Inclusion Scotland, the government of Scotland estimated that 95,000 Scottish households will be affected by this measure in the first year. In Scotland, 79 per cent of the households expected to be affected (76,000) contain a disabled person. They will lose an average of 13 pounds in housing benefit. Inclusion Scotland noted with concern that persons with disabilities will be among those least able to continue to meet their rent payments.83 D. Young people 67. The scale of need for accommodation for young people — both supported and independent — is significant, and options are often unaffordable, substandard or simply scarce. Young people are facing more barriers than ever in access to housing, partly due to low incomes, the high level of youth unemployment and a lack of access to appropriate housing finance mechanisms. The current estimated shortfall of accommodation for those who cannot afford market rates (both for social rented or private rented accommodation with the use of the housing benefit) is 140,344, rising to an estimated 146,696 by 2021 for households headed by young people.84 A recent report also notes that service providers have observed that single adults and youth who are homeless have been disproportionately affected by various reforms, including those to the Jobseeker’s Allowance and Employment and Support Allowance.85 VI. Other issues related to the right to adequate housing 68. The Special Rapporteur considers that other issues related to discrimination and exclusion on historic and cultural grounds also have a direct impact on the right to adequate housing and raise issues and concerns different to those expressed in the previous sections. A. Gypsies and Travellers 69. The lack of appropriate and culturally adequate residential and transit accommodation is often at the root of the stigma and discrimination faced by Gypsies and Travellers in the United Kingdom, underpinning a range of other problems, from access to education or work to appropriate health care or inclusion in community life.86 There are concerns about the quality and location of sites, such as those under motorways or next to 82 83 84 85 86 House of Lords and House of Commons, Joint Committee on Human Rights, Implementation of the Right of Disabled People to Independent Living (2012), para. 161. Submission of Inclusion Scotland for this report. Anna Clarke and Gemma Burgess, “Mapping the number of extra housing units needed for young people” (Cambridge Centre for Housing and Planning Research, 2012), pp. 2, 30–31. Fitzpatrick et al., The Homelessness Monitor, p. 8. Equality and Human Rights Commission, submission to the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination on the eighteenth to twentieth periodic reports of the United Kingdom (2011). pp. 60–70. 17