NewsDisability housing institutions are beginning to close
Disability housing institutions are buildings where very large numbers of people with disability live together. People that live in institutions generally have a much lower quality of life than people that live in mainstream housing, but sometimes it is the only option. There have been a few stories in the news recently about some of these institutions closing, and new types of housing are being built before the NDIS rolls out. Different groups of people have different opinions about it.
What are disability housing institutions?
People with disability live all around Australia. Many people with permanent and significant disability can live with their families, friends and partners. However, this has not always been possible because lots of people with disability have lived in disability housing institutions for a large part of their life.
Disability housing institutions were big places where many people with disability once lived. These institutions grouped lots of people with disability together in the same place. The people with disability could not choose whether or not they lived in an institution. People with disability also could not choose what activities they did during the day and night. They were not allowed to invite people to their home without asking somebody first.
Bad things happened in disability housing institutions
The support workers who helped people with disability in disability housing institutions did not always have good training. They also often worked long hours and this made many of them unhappy. Sometimes staff working at institutions abused and hurt people with disability. The people with disability did not have anybody to talk to about this abuse. This meant that the abuse sometimes went on for a long time and the staff doing the abusing would not get in trouble and be made to stop.
Quite a lot of people with disability died when they were living in institutions. Governments and disability advocacy groups have researched what happens in disability institutions. They believe many of these deaths would not have happened if the person with disability was living somewhere else, such as living in the community with proper support, and knowing that they have the same rights as people without disability, such as making a complaint about abuse to the police.
Governments around Australia realised disability housing institutions were not the best solution for people with disability after people with disability advocated for change and told the community about the abuse that happened in them. Institutions began to shut down around Australia and many people with disability who lived in them moved to new homes. They still often shared their homes with other people with disability. These are often called group homes. However, people with disability now had more choice about who helped them during the day and night. They also had more choice about what they could do with their lives and who they could see. Importantly, living in the community reduced the risk of abuse.
Group housing is better for people with disability than disability housing institutions. However, research says that people with disability would be even better off if they were living in the community with everybody else. The NDIS aims to give people with disability control over their life, including choice about where they live and who they live with. This means disability institutions and the NDIS do not go well together.
Closing down institutions in New South Wales
The New South Wales government is going to shut down the Westmead disability institution in Sydney soon. Other disability institutions in New South Wales will be shut down shortly after. These disability institutions are being shut down now because some people with disability in New South Wales (NSW) will have early access to housing support. The NSW government is going to pay for some group homes to be built for people with disability to live in before the NDIS is available to them.
These group homes will be available in the community and people living in them will be able to help choose what they will look like.This is different from what is happening in current housing institutions. In housing institutions people with disability have no choice in where they live or what their housing looks like. Having no choice and control often makes people with disability very unhappy.
Living in the community and not in disability group homes will give people with disability even more choice and control over how they live their life.
Closing down institutions in Victoria
Housing institutions are also being closed in Victoria. One example is the Sandhurst Centre institution in Bendigo. This will close next year. 30 people living with disability there will move to new group homes. These group homes are now being built. The cost of building these houses is being paid for by the Victorian Government.
The NDIS will be available to people with disability in Bendigo by May 2017. The Victorian Government wants the people living in the Sandhurst Centre to have moved to their new group homes before the NDIS is available. When the NDIS is available some people will be able to use their NDIS funding to help them become more independent. We’ll know more details about how the NDIS will help people with housing in December.
Who is worried about institutions closing?
Unions are an organised group of people who work together to speak up about the issues that are important to a large group of employees. Employees that choose to become part of the union are union members. Unions who represent disability support workers do not want housing institutions to close down. Unions are worried the workers they represent will lose their jobs or be paid less money. They also say people with disability will be put in danger and will not have anywhere to live if disability housing institutions are closed.
Some family members and carers of people with disability are worried about institutions closing. Some people with disability have lived in institutions for most of their life. This can mean families think the person with disability will not be happy or safe if they live anywhere else. It is important for the person with disability, their families, and the people who provide group housing to work together to make sure everyone is safe and happy.
People with disability come first
People with disability should be able to choose where they live, and who supports them. This choice and control is what the NDIS has promised people with disability. Even though unions are worried about workers, it should be the person with disability who gets to have the biggest say about where they live. Disability support workers should not be able to tell people with disability how they should live their life.
The NDIS will create lots of jobs for people who work with people with disability. More jobs will be created because there will be more money to support people with disability. People with disability getting the support they need through the NDIS is very important. It is also a good thing for unions as their members will have more chances to work at different places and do different jobs.
The government are asking for your ideas
The Joint Standing Committee on the National Disability Insurance Scheme (a group of Senators and Members of Parliament that meet about the NDIS) have been thinking and talking about "affordable and appropriate accommodation for people with disabilities." In their last report, they agreed that the lack of good accommodation can stop people with disability from having individual choice and control. They also said that it can "limit people’s ability to fully participate in society and live an ordinary life like any other Australian."
On 23 October 2015, the committee conducted a roundtable hearing (a meeting with lots of different people) in Canberra on housing. This was the first part of the committee’s look at accommodation for people with disability. The transcript of the roundtable hearing is available here.
The committee is now calling for submissions on the issue of accommodation. They want to hear ideas for solutions. You can write a submission and send it to the Joint Standing Committee on the NDIS using the "upload submission" button from this page.
In 2016 they will travel around the country and meet with people and organisations to hear their ideas. We'll tell you more then.
Here are some links to news articles that have talked about these issues:
Advocates warn disability workers struggle with low pay, staff turnover and casualisation
The Canberra Times, November 18
Systemic failings saw disabled woman choke to death after staff miss warnings
The Canberra Times, November 18
Mother of drowning victim says new disability death shows 'system still failing'
The Canberra Times, November 17
Sandhurst Centre 'deinstitutionalisation' continues amid new homes planning says Minister Martin Foley
ABC News, November 9
Who will care for our children? Parents raise concerns at disability abuse hearing in Bendigo
ABC News, November 6
Bundaberg receives a $1.7 million disability housing boost
News Mail, October 29
Toowoomba region gets share of $6.6 million funding
The Chronicle, October 29
Up to $1m grants on offer for Gladstone disability housing
The Gladstone Observer, October 27
NDIS: NSW starts early to build housing stockpile
The Australian, October 17
Homes await NSW’s disabled as John Ajaka shuts institutions
The Australian, October 17
Supported accommodation in NT
NDIS eNews, October
Accommodating NDIS: maximising housing choice in a reformed disability sector
Australian Housing and Public Research Institute, August