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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.
Source: Probono Australia | Author: Di Winkler & Peter Mulherin
Australia’s building ministers have decided to include accessible design features in the National Construction Code. Di Winkler and Peter Mulherin look at what that means.
From September 2022, new homes in Australia will include accessible design features, after a meeting on 30 April saw building ministers decide to include minimum accessibility standards in the National Construction Code (NCC).
Source: Probono Australia | Author: Di Winkler & Peter Mulherin
This Friday, Australia’s Building Ministers will choose whether accessibility standards will be voluntary or mandatory in the 2022 National Construction Code. Di Winkler and Peter Mulherin explain why mandatory standards will future-proof Australia’s housing for coming generations.
The recently released findings of the Aged Care Royal Commission represent an opportunity to achieve generational reform for older Australians, as the provision of aged care services shift from institutionalised care, to care at home.
Source: ABC Radio National with Fran Kelly | Reporter: Eleni Psaltis | Image: James Hancock
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.
Featured:
Carol Littley, mother of Kirby Littley who lived in an aged care facility in her twenties
Dr Bronwyn Morkham, National Director of the Young People in Nursing Homes National Alliance
Stuart Robert, Minister for the National Disability Insurance Scheme
Richard Colbeck, Aged Care Services Minister
Dr Di Winkler, Summer Foundation CEO
Lisa Corcoran, former aged care resident
Source: Australian Ageing Agenda | Author: Di Winkler
Our ageing population demands more accessible housing, writes Dr Di Winkler.
The final report from the royal commission into aged care will be released this week. This report will show that institutional housing for the elderly is not working and include a range of measures to address the neglect they have found.
Source: Probono Australia | Author: Di Winkler and Peter Mulherin
Only a mandatory approach to accessibility standards will future-proof Australia’s housing for coming generations, and cater to the demands of an ageing population, write Dr Di Winkler and Dr Peter Mulherin outlining the Building Better Homes Campaign.
Source: ProBono | Author: Dr Di Winkler and Alecia Rathbone
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, write Dr Di Winkler and Alecia Rathbone.
Source: The Guardian | Author: Caro Llewellyn
My childhood was spent navigating my father’s disability. Then I was told I was facing the possibility of life in a wheelchair myself. The thing about disability is it usually doesn’t only affect the person living it. It changes the lives of children, parents, friends and partners.
