PWDA chief executive officer Sebastian Zagarella said the disabled people’s organisation was pleased the disability community’s lobbying had paid off. “We hope the Australian Building Codes Board’s new standards will eventually make people’s search for a new home much easier, allowing us to participate in our communities more by having accessible housing where we want them.”
Building Better Homes Campaign Director Alistair Webster called it “a once-in-a-generation opportunity”. “What this means is that the millions of Australians with mobility limitations who currently cannot get access to appropriate housing will have more opportunity to fully participate in community life,” he said.
The Building Ministers agreed to mandate the Livable Housing Design Silver Level as a standard for all new housing in the National Construction Code. The Gold Standard will also be included in the NCC as a ‘technical referral’ meaning states and territories can decide to upgrade to Gold voluntarily. Whilst there is still work to do to secure a mandatory Gold Standard, this is a big win for people with disability, seniors and indeed all Australians.
In Australia, 4.4 million people live with disability, and 96% of people with disability live in private homes. Many existing homes are inaccessible and finding appropriate housing remains a challenge for many Australians with disability. Improving housing accessibility can and should be achieved in two ways: by ensuring that new homes are constructed to meet minimum accessibility requirements; and by modification or adaptation of existing homes, which is the focus of this report.
The Specialist Disability Accommodation within Australia’s disability scheme has been overhauled from relying on ‘off systems’ to being completely visible.
Access to appropriate and affordable housing is a key driver to enable people with disability to be full and equal participants in society. Yet while the stock of specialist disability housing has grown over the last few years,2 the sector’s understanding of how these homes facilitate better outcomes once tenants have moved in has remained limited. This outcomes framework was developed to help better understand the impact of housing and in-home supports on the lives of people with disability.
Currently there are more than 4,300 younger Australians living in an aged care facility; most of them are with disability. But the Aged Care Royal Commission says by 2025, no one under the age of 65 should be in these facilities. But to reach this target, there are calls for more accommodation options to be made available.
Given our ageing population, the number of Australians with mobility issues is expected to almost double from 3 million to nearly 6 million within 40 years. In about a month’s time Australia’s building ministers will meet to consider the inclusion of minimum accessibility standards in the National Construction Code (NCC). This will be a critical decision for the millions of Australians with mobility impairments who cannot get access to housing that meets their needs.
This report provides an update on the growth of Specialist Disability Accommodation (SDA) across Australia and shares insights into current market sentiment. The data in this report results from a survey of SDA providers in October and November 2020. This is the third annual report of its type. Specialist Disability Accommodation (SDA) is housing that … Continued
People with high or complex disability support needs have traditionally had extremely limited options when it comes to finding somewhere to live. The growing specialist disability accommodation market is beginning to change that.
For many Victorians with disability, the right to choose where they live and who they live with is so constrained that they are left feeling unsafe and fearful in their own homes, according to a report tabled in the State’s Parliament earlier this month.
When fully rolled out, SDA payments are expected to total approximately $700 million per year. Building the scale of housing required for the SDA market has the potential to stimulate around $5 billion in private sector investment. Using SDA payments to leverage private capital has enormous potential to transform disability housing in Australia.
Community Visitors are volunteers who play a vital role in safeguarding the rights of people with disability and fostering their inclusion in the community. This is an annual report that identifies a range of issues critical to the safety, treatment, care and human rights ofVictorians who, due to their disabilities, require 24-hour care in state- regulated or managed services. The challenges presented by the pandemic and the ensuing lockdowns, required service provision to pivot to remote contact by phone or video when prevented from visiting disability group homes, mental health units and Supported Residential Services (SRS) in person. Facilities could only be attended in person for 65 per cent of the year due to lockdowns.
Advocacy groups say the commission must recognise that segregation of people with disability is discrimination and a breach of human rights under the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (of which Australia is a signatory).
Young people often end up in aged care because they fall through the gap between hospitals and the disability service system. The two systems operate on completely different time frames. For example, if a young person has a very severe brain injury, as soon as they are medically stable there is pressure to move them out of a hospital bed. But disability services take weeks or months to determine if a suitable housing and support option is available.