Announcements today about reforms to the Specialist Disability Accommodation Framework for the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) have been welcomed by the Summer Foundation and Youngcare.
The Minister for Families and Social Services, Paul Fletcher, and Assistant Minister for Social Services, Housing and Disability Services, Sarah Henderson, announced reforms that will improve choice and control for NDIS participants, build market confidence in SDA and drive stronger investment in SDA.
The 50 younger people each week who enter aged care will benefit from the fast tracked process to get the funding they to need to avoid aged care. The reforms will fast track access to SDA funding for priority groups, including young people in aged care, hospital or awaiting discharge.
Summer Foundation CEO Luke Bo’sher said: “These changes create confidence across the affordable housing and finance sectors to scale up their efforts to create Specialist Disability Accommodation.
“These changes will go a long way towards our vision for the NDIS: enabling people with disability to live in high quality, accessible housing integrated in communities across Australia.”
Youngcare CEO Anthony Ryan said “This is a welcome step in the right direction for young people with disabilities and the SDA market. With these changes, we will begin to see much greater confidence from investors and developers, which will ultimately result in choice and independence for young people with high care needs, enabling them to live the young lives that they deserve.”
The announcement of these reforms is timely in the lead-up to the first national SDA conference in Melbourne on March 22, being presented by the Summer Foundation and Youngcare.
The Get Building SDA National Conference 2019 will bring together a large number of SDA developers, financiers, NDIS participants and a range of professionals to learn what’s being achieved in SDA and get the latest insights into the SDA market.
The reforms announced by the Government will be welcomed by conference attendees keen to talk about how SDA developments can provide quality homes for people with disability.
Youngcare is a not-for-profit organisation creating choice and independence for young people with high care needs by providing fully accessible and age-appropriate living spaces, grants for equipment and home modifications and support through a national phone line.
The Summer Foundation is a charity that aims to create, lead and demonstrate long-term sustainable changes that stop young people being forced to live in aged care because there is nowhere else for them.
