Evidence shows that there are very positive outcomes for people with disability who want to live alone and have the opportunity to do so. Living alone is not for everyone, but Summer Foundation believes that people with disability should have that same right to live alone as any person without disability.
The Summer Foundation and 20 other organisations issued a joint statement in response to the National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA)’s SDA Provider and Investor Brief published on 24 April.
The Brief indicated only a “very small number … of a very small percentage” of NDIS participants would be funded to live alone in SDA”.
This is a big concern to people with disability, housing providers and those funding the construction of new disability accommodation. We know that when governments spend more upfront to support people to live independently, the long-term support costs will be lower.
The NDIS is an opportunity to invest more in high quality housing and capacity building upfront. This means more innovative housing models can develop, providing alternatives to group homes for many young people in aged care who may not want to live in a shared housing environment.
The Joint Statement from Summer Foundation and 20 other organisations called for immediate reassurance and said that “certainty is needed on how the SDA market is expected to grow and operate”.
The Australian Government has announced a review of the SDA framework. This is an opportunity to outline what is working well and what needs to improve. You can read the Summer Foundation’s statement on the SDA framework review here