More than 12,000 people have signed a petition calling for minimum accessibility standards in new homes to meet the needs of all Australians.
The petition and a recent open letter to the country’s building ministers form part of the Building Better Homes campaign. Australia’s building ministers will meet in early April to decide whether to include minimum accessibility standards in the National Construction Code for all new homes.
It is a critical decision for the hundreds of thousands of Australians with mobility impairments who cannot access housing that meets their needs.
Since 2010 accessibility standards have been regulated by voluntary guidelines. But only 5% of new home builds have complied with these Livable Housing Design Guidelines.
The Summer Foundation is supporting the Building Better Homes campaign, being run by a coalition of peak bodies and agencies working together to have the code changed to include mandatory standards. Any changes to the code will come into effect across Australia on 1 September 2022.
The campaign highlights that:
- A 2020 survey of people with mobility impairment found 73.6% of respondents were living in housing that does not meet their needs
- Over the next 40 years the number of Australians with a mobility limitation due to disability is expected to rise from 3 million to around 5.75 million
- More than 80% of Australians aged over 55 want to live in their own homes as they age
- Every Australian would benefit from housing that accommodates life’s many changes
Click here to take action: Let’s get minimum accessibility standards included in our National Building Code and ensure the Code meets the needs of all Australians!