Joint Statement on the NDIA’s Specialist Disability Accommodation Provider and Investor Brief

The National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA) presented its latest policy position for Specialist Disability Accommodation (SDA) in a statement to the provider and investor market on 24 April.

People with disabilities and developers of innovative housing for people with disabilities are pleased the NDIA has reiterated the government’s commitment to SDA in its SDA Provider and Investor Brief. The NDIA has confirmed that the SDA funding model is here to stay.

However, the NDIA’s SDA Brief expresses a vision for SDA housing with a clear bias toward shared models of housing for people with disability, presumably to reduce support costs. This is unacceptable. You can read our joint statement here (A Rich text format is available here).

You can read the Summer Foundation’s summary of the SDA Brief here.

Feeling socially isolated or excluded is a frequent and enduring problem for many people who survive severe brain injury.

[lead]Summer Foundation Forum to Explore the Impact of the NDIS, What is Working and What Still Needs Tweaking[/lead]

Research released today further demonstrates the urgent need for action to ensure the coordinated delivery of disability and health supports to young people with complex disability who are eligible for the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS). The report, Considerations for National Disability Insurance Scheme Design, also highlights the urgent need for further investment in a wider range of models of housing and support for NDIS participants.

In 2015, The Summer Foundation launched three new reports that document the lessons learnt from developing our housing demonstration projects. Through these projects we want to demonstrate how well designed, well located, affordable and adaptable housing combined with smart home technology and appropriate support can improve quality of life, increase independence and decrease lifetime care costs for young people with disability.

#MyHomeMatters is a call for solutions to the issue of young people with disability living in nursing homes.

The Summer Foundation’s work over the past eighteen months has seen an increasing number of young people with disability and their family members lend their voices to the growing call to resolve the need for young people to live in nursing homes.

The Summer Foundation is proud to launch its latest publication, New Housing Options For People with Significant Disability: Design Insights. The report provides insights into design based on our learnings from our housing demonstration projects in Abbotsford, Victoria and the Hunter region of NSW.

The Summer Foundation is developing a small number of innovative housing and support projects to demonstrate a new and more inclusive housing option for people with significant disability.

Summer Foundation was invited to present information about advances in the areas of housing and technology for young people in nursing homes this week. At this conference, Rebecca Wood and I showcased housing and support models that the Summer Foundation has been developing, and discussed what we have learnt from these models.

This conference is exploring the “new world” of technologies that is quickly unfolding around us, and which promises great new opportunities for people with disabilities. These technologies include driverless cars, wheelchairs operated by thoughts only, and robots that can interpret your intentions and respond in “real time”. Some of the biggest technology companies in the world were there to discuss a future most of us haven’t even started to dream about yet.

Young people with complex disabilities and high support needs are often moved into nursing homes direct from hospital or rehabilitation. Coordinating their health and disability supports while living in aged care frequently means people seesaw between the two systems. How can we improve this situation?

This question and more will be explored in detail by our panel of experts at this year’s annual public forum, a free public event hosted by the Summer Foundation.