Unique partnership on housing for our future: agreement launched
Disability Discrimination Commissioner, Graeme Innes, today joined leaders from the housing, government and community sectors to celebrate the launch of an agreement for working together to change the way we design and build our homes.
“This is a unique partnership agreement that sets out a plan of action with the goal that, by 2020, all new housing will include a number of basic design features that will make them safer and easier to move around in,” said Commissioner Innes. “This includes features such as stepless entries and wider doorways.”
The National Dialogue on Universal Housing Design – Strategic Plan, commits the signatories to working together to develop education and training resources, releasing technical guidelines to assist the housing industry and identifying possible incentives for encouraging industry and owners to adopt the use of the technical guidelines.
The plan also calls on government at all levels to take the lead by ensuring all new housing that receives government funding incorporates the new design features.
“Our objective is to come up with a plan that will address the growing need to design our homes in a way that can easily accommodate our changing needs over our lifetime”, said Commissioner Innes.
The group of leaders, from key organisations in the disability and ageing sectors, the residential building and property industry and government, have agreed to work together to promote the benefits of universal housing design. Universal housing design can make homes easier and safer for young families and people who have short or long term injuries or illnesses, as well as senior Australians and people with disability, to live in.
The group first met nine months ago at the invitation of Parliamentary Secretary Bill Shorten and Therese Rein.
“Our needs are constantly changing over our lifetime - we may have children and use prams, we may break a leg, develop a disability or simply lose our capacity to get around as well – however, our homes don’t change unless we have to change them, often at great cost,” said Commissioner Innes. “As the goal this group has set itself is to make all future housing better able to meet our changing needs, I am looking forward to this partnership delivering real change over the next few years.”
The members of the National Dialogue are: Australian Human Rights Commission; Australian Institute of Architects; Australian Local Government Association; Australian Network for Universal Housing Design; COTA Australia; Grocon; Housing Industry Association; Lend Lease Primelife; Master Builders Australia; National People with Disabilities and Carers Council; Office of the Disability Council of NSW; Property Council of Australia; Real Estate Institute of Australia; Stockland.
To view the strategic plan and other information, visit the Livable Design website at: www.fahcsia.gov.au/sa/housing/pubs/housing/Pages/livable_design.aspx.
Media contacts: Brinsley Marlay – 02 9284 9656 or 0430 366 529
