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Source: Probono Australia – Danielle Kutchel
Participants say the NDIS is not delivering on its key purpose, but the government’s review provides an opportunity to go back to the drawing board.
NDIS Minister Bill Shorten must listen to the voices of people with disability if he truly intends to return the NDIS to its original intent.
Source: The Australian – Sarah Ison
More than 3000 properties for Australians with disabilities are sitting empty while NDIS participants languish in hospitals, group homes or aged care centres awaiting tick-offs from the agency.
The Conversation – Megan Topping & Jacinta Douglas
When the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) was established almost a decade ago, it was envisaged people with disability would be empowered consumers. It was hoped their customer insights would shape new services designed to meet their specific needs and preferences.
Source: 7.30 Report (ABC) – Lauren Day & Laura Kewley
We’ve all heard about the shortage of hospital beds across the country but in fact, there are hundreds that could be available if they weren’t being used by patients who are technically well enough to go home but can’t.
Around 1,500 Australians with disabilities are waiting to be discharged from hospital but they can’t because of NDIS delays.
Source: The Conversation – Di Winkler
Eighteen months ago, a Melbourne woman named Leila had a stroke and went to a local hospital. After medical support over a few weeks, Leila was ready to be discharged from the hospital, but required some specialist support due to her disability.
Source: Herald Sun – Jade Gailberger
Taxpayers are paying tens of millions of dollars for healthy patients who are stranded in Victorian public hospital beds due to a bureaucratic mess.
Source: The Conversation – Kate D’Cruz & Mark Brown
It is nearing ten years since the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) was legislated in the dying days of the Gillard government. Not only was there bipartisan support for the NDIS, the reform came about on the back of a grassroots campaign from the disability community.
Source: The Guardian – Luke Henriques-Gomes | Photo: Christopher Hopkins
A Melbourne woman with cerebral palsy is fighting to stay in her home just a year after moving in because the agency running the national disability insurance scheme has decided her funding is no longer “value for money”.
Source: The Guardian – Luke Henriques-Gomes | Photo: Christopher Hopkins
Government data shows 1,140 participants are stuck in hospital waiting for housing funding or other support before they can be released.
Source: The Age – Jewel Topsfield | Photo: Joe Armao
The state government has revealed that more than 200 Victorians with a disability were stuck in hospital for an average of 160 days after they were well enough to be discharged, and blamed the hold-up on the National Disability Insurance Scheme.
Source: ABC News – Elizabeth Wright & Alison Branley | Photo: Chris Le Page
Alicia Appleby is 38 years old but she’s been living in a geriatric ward in a Melbourne hospital for more than 260 days.
Ms Appleby has had two strokes, has a mild intellectual disability and needs constant care.
Source: Probono – Di Winkler & Peter Mulherin
Australia has over 3,400 younger people living in aged care, due to a lack of timely funding for viable alternatives. Younger people living in aged care lose skills, social connection and hope. The federal government has committed to getting them out – but its targets will be difficult to achieve.
Source: The Conversation – Di Winkler & Jacinta Douglas
The federal government has been warning that the rising cost of the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) is unsustainable. More than a third of NDIS funding is spent on in-house support provided to 5% of NDIS participants with the highest needs.
Source: The Age – Jewel Topsfield | Photo: Jamila Toderas
Connor Brookhouse didn’t want to live in a group disability home. So he appealed to the Administrative Appeals Tribunal and won.
Source: LinkedIn – Di Winkler
We are pleased to announce the new chair of Summer Foundation, Chris Leptos AM as Chairman Elect for the Summer Foundation. Chris is an experienced Director with a wealth of international corporate roles. His experience in the housing sector combined with his work advising state and federal governments provides him with unique qualifications to take up the role of Summer Foundation Chairman. Chris has a strong interest in social impact and systems change, and shares the fundamental belief of Summer Foundation that young people in residential aged care (YPIRAC) is a solvable issue.
Source: Disability Support Guide – Anna Christian
The Federal Budget is due to be delivered tomorrow night and many people with disability could benefit from funding if advocates’ demands are met.
Source: Disability Support Guide – Anna Christian
Thousands of people with disability are waiting far too long for approval for the housing they need, causing stress and impacting their health, the members of a new campaign say.
The Down to 10 Days campaign launched this week and aims to have the wait of up to 18 months for housing approval under the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) cut to ten days to protect the health and wellbeing of people with disability.
The Canberra Times – Dan Jervis-Bardy (Picture: Elesa Kurtz)
The Morrison government is under pressure to end the bureaucratic delays being blamed for confining NDIS participants to hospital beds or forcing them into aged care homes.
A coalition of housing, health and disability groups has launched a pre-election campaign calling on the National Disability Insurance Agency to dramatically speed up decisions about funding for supported accommodation.
Source: The Canberra Times – Dan Jervis-Bardy
The pre-election federal budget should include an extra $50 million to help get NDIS participants out of hospital and into suitable housing, according to a leading advocacy group.
The Summer Foundation has made the request as disability-supported homes sit vacant across Australia, including in Canberra, while hospital-bound participants are unable to move into them amid delays processing paperwork and approving funding.
Source: Aged Care News – Bianca Roberts
On the surface, there has been progress.
According to a new report from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) titled Younger people in residential aged care, the number of Australians aged under 65 living in residential aged care facilities (RACFs) fell by 20 per cent from almost 4600 in September 2020 to around 3700 in September 2021.
Source: Disability Support Guide – Anna Christian
A newly released report shows the Government is still short of its target to have no one younger than 45 living in nursing homes, and no one younger than 65 entering aged care homes, by 2022.
Almost 4,000 young Australians with disability live in aged care too, and advocates say a broken system is preventing any progress on finding them somewhere else to live.
They’re hoping new tools to support people to make the transition will help to avoid a life of isolation.
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A new industry report on investment funds in the specialist disability accommodation market highlights the need for greater government oversight to increase investor confidence, write Di Winkler and Sabina Curatolo.
Specialist housing for disabled people, which has grown from nothing into a $2.5 billion asset class in just five years, is poised to expand a further fivefold in response to demand for housing that meets the needs of an estimated 28,000 young people, a new industry report shows.
Source: The Urban Developer | Author: Di Winkler
Australia’s building ministers at their meeting on April 30 decided to include minimum accessibility standards in the 2022 National Construction Code (NCC).
This is a significant decision that will shape our housing for generations to come.
The new standards will come into effect in September 2022 and reflect the fact that our housing needs are changing as our population ages.
