Join the fight to end violence, abuse, neglect and exploitation of people with disability by engaging with the Disability Royal Commission.

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Housing

A number of Disability Royal Commission hearings so far have looked into issues related to the places we live – particularly supported, shared and segregated housing.

If you’re not sure about some of the language being used, see if it’s in our Jargon Buster. Specific pages that might come in handy:

Find out more about related past hearings below – or skip down to learn more about where we stand on disability housing.

Public hearings about housing

The Royal Commission has held a number of public hearings about disability housing, focusing on specific areas or service providers. We’ve been following along and live-tweeting when we can using the hashtag #DisabilityRC – we’ll link each thread for anyone interested in catching up on our commentary. Note that sometimes Twitter cuts a thread off halfway and you need to tap “show more replies” to see the rest.

Public hearing 3 looked at group homes in Victoria. It ran from Monday 2 to Friday 6 December, 2019. You can find a transcript of the hearing on the DRC website, as well as video with Auslan interpretation and various documents mentioned in the hearing. You can also read the Royal Commission’s report about this hearing.

Check out our live Twitter commentary on hearing 3 here: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.

Public hearing 13, from Monday, 24 May to Friday, 28 May 2021, looked at a particular group home run by service provider Sunnyfield Disability Services. A follow-up hearing on 8 September 2021 presented recommended findings from Counsel Assisting and responses to that submission from the service provider, the NSW ombudsman and witness Eliza. Video and transcripts are available on the website.

Check out our live Twitter commentary on hearing 13 here: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and the follow-up hearing in September.

Public hearing 14, from 7 June to 11 June 2021, focused on disability accommodation services operated by the South Australian Department of Human Services. They also heard some evidence about the death of Ann-Marie Smith. There was a virtual follow-up hearing on 30 September 2021. Video and transcripts are available on the website.

Check out our live Twitter commentary on hearing 14 here: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and the follow-up hearing in September.

Public hearing 20, from Tuesday 7 December to Tuesday 14 December 2021, examined two case studies involving group homes run by Life Without Barriers. You can find video, transcripts and other documents on the Royal Commission’s website, including the final hearing 20 report. Here’s an ABC article about the hearing report.

Check out our live Twitter commentary on hearing 20 here: Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Monday and the second Tuesday. An extra day of the hearing for final submissions was held on 28 April 2022, but we weren’t able to livetweet it.

Public hearing 26 looked into homelessness and related experiences, including boarding houses and hostels, from 29 August to 2 September 2022. Ahead of the hearing, we released a joint statement with Inclusion Australia and Disability Advocacy Network Australia. You can find transcripts, Auslan and videoon the Royal Commission’s website.

Check out our live Twitter commentary on hearing 26 here: Monday, Tuesday (if you’re using these for reference, please note that we accidentally used the wrong pronouns for the first witness), Wednesday, Thursday. We weren’t able to live-tweet on Friday, but we did publish a highly relevant letter to the OPCAT Committee. Plus, check out our recent Our Voice community member guest blog, in which Kimberly Lander reflects on growing up in foster care and disability group homes.

Where we stand on Disability Housing

For decades, people with disability have been shut away in institutions, group homes and other kinds of housing that non-disabled people never have to consider. We want the right to live in the community, just like everyone else.

The UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (Article 19), to which Australia is a signatory, makes this clear, saying that people with disability should “have the opportunity to choose their place of residence and where and with whom they live on an equal basis with others and are not obliged to live in a particular living arrangement.”

Much of Australia’s housing is unaffordable or inaccessible, meaning people with disability can be pushed into unsafe or unwanted housing, such as group homes or boarding houses, or even homelessness.

For housing to include all of us, it must be accessible, affordable and safe. Housing also needs to be separated from our disability supports.

People with disability need to have the same choices as non-disabled people, including about who they live with.

Accessibility

Many people with disability find it hard to find an accessible place to live. There are no mandatory accessibility standards, even on new buildings.

Current voluntary accessible housing guidelines are not working, with an estimate of less than 5% of new housing having basic accessibility features such as wider doorways, one entry point for wheelchair users, and a toilet on the ground floor.

More info: Australian Network for Universal Housing Design

Affordability

Many people with disability live in poverty, including income support. Over 40% of people who receive Newstart are people with disability or chronic illness. Only 53% of people with disability of working age are in paid work, compared to 82% of our non-disabled peers.

Only 4% of private rentals are affordable to people who rely on income support. 20% of those living in social or public housing are people with disability.

More info:

Safety

Congregate living, where many people live together, is a well-understood risk factor for violence and abuse. This can include large residential institutions, group homes and boarding houses.

People with disability have campaigned for an end to institutions for decades. Much of the early work of disability activists was about segregation and institutionalisation. Many disabled people were placed in institutions from an early age, went to special schools, then moved on to sheltered workshops.

This separation of people with disability from the community was partly because disability was seen as something to be ashamed of, to be pitied and to be hidden. People with disability weren’t seen as fully human, or as equal members of the community.

People with Disability Australia’s former President, Jan Daisley, talked about why this was so important for her:

Separating Disability And Housing Supports

The old disability system, before the NDIS, included many group homes. For many people with disability who lived in group homes, the same organisation provided disability support, as well as running the group home, controlling all aspects of a person with disability’s life.

Imagine your landlord also employs the person who helps you shower, and decides where you go for recreation, and what you eat for lunch. This can be the situation for many people with disability who live in group homes.

The NDIS was meant to change this – to separate these two different kinds of support, so that people with disability could have more choice. This would mean, for example, that if a person with disability isn’t happy with their disability support, or has experienced violence, abuse or neglect, they could get different disability support without putting their housing at risk.

Find out more

PWDA has made or contributed to several submissions to the Disability Royal Commission that relate to disability housing. These reports include information we’ve gathered through our individual advocacy work supporting people with disability, research partnerships, and other policy work. We make recommendations about what needs to change to make sure the human rights of people with disability are respected.

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