In Cyprus there has been a need for a new institutional and legal framework concerning the provision of high-quality and effective supported living services to adults with disabilities. This is required for such people who do not have the necessary means or the supportive context to care for themselves.
The right of people with disabilities to live independently and be included in the community is stated in Article 19 of the United Nations’ Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities, which Cyprus ratified in 2011 along with its Optional Protocol. As a state party, Cyprus is obliged to take effective and appropriate measures towards this as part of its social policy for social protection and inclusion of all people with disabilities. In Cyprus’s first dialogue with the United Nations Committee on the Rights of People with Disabilities in 2017, the committee recommended further actions in this domain. These included the development and implementation of an adequately funded deinstitutionalisation strategy, along with the establishment of adequate community-based services. The goal is to enable people with disabilities to live independently, with access to individually assessed and efficient services – including personal assistance – within the community. This is in line with the European Disability Strategy on the Rights of People with Disabilities 2021–2030, the Council of Europe Disability Strategy 2017–2023 and Cyprus’s first National Disability Strategy 2018–2028.
In April 2016, a new supported home was established for the deinstitutionalisation of eight people with severe intellectual disability and behavioural disorders. They were residing in a psychiatric ward of Cyprus’s Mental Institution where the ward was to be closed. The new home was assigned as a special project to the Department for Social Inclusion of Persons with Disabilities (DSIPD), with the collaboration of the Mental Health Services. Very soon the positive outcomes of the deinstitutionalisation process were made obvious. The residents, with the support of specially trained personal assistants, carers and rehabilitation professionals showed and developed new skills which accelerated their overall improvement and thus enabled them to be included in the community.
Following the success of the project the DSIPD, along with DG Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion of the European Commission, organised a seminar in Nicosia (January 2017) about the transition from institutional to community-based care. The Toolkit on the Use of European Union Funds for the Transition from Institutional to Community-based Care was presented by the European Expert Group on the Transition from Institutional to Community-based Care, and the European Commission.
Not long after, a new scheme was prepared by DSIPD and approved by the Council of Ministers’ Decision No 83.414 dated 27 September 2017, for the Creation and Operation of Supported Living Programmes. This was done through the implementation of the project ‘Supported Living Homes/Programmes’ co-funded by the European Social Fund and the Republic of Cyprus, and the scheme was later revised and updated. The new Decision of the Council of Ministers (No 89.284 dated 29 April 2020) meant that more specialised needs of people with disabilities who enter supported living homes or programmes are fully met. The project involved the creation of 11 supported living homes in areas controlled by the Cyprus Republic for 48 people with disabilities, by private sector companies after the conclusion of public contracts with the contracting authority (DSIPD).
The target group were adults with intellectual or visual disability, or autism, who do not have enough supportive means or context to care for themselves. Specifically, the project previewed the creation of:
- three homes for five people with intellectual disability each in the province of Nicosia;
- one home for five people with intellectual disability in the province of Limassol;
- two homes for five people with intellectual disability each in the province of Larnaca;
- one home for five people with intellectual disability in the province of Paphos;
- three homes for eight people with autism in the province of Limassol;
- one home for five people with visual disability in the province of Nicosia.
After the announcement of the scheme, interested people with disabilities were able to submit their application to the department. To make sure that all people in need were adequately informed, the DSIPD conducted a pan-Cyprian research from January to April 2019 to all the institutions operating in Cyprus for the elderly and disabled. This enabled a mapping all people with intellectual or visual disability, or autism, under the age of 65 residing in such institutions and whose needs were not met. Τhe residents were selected with priority given to people with a very limited or non-existent supportive background.