People with disability, older Australians, allied health and health professionals, the housing sector and the broader Australian community are being urged to support the inclusion of mandatory accessibility standards in the National Construction Code, when Building Ministers meet in March.
A campaign led by Building Better Homes picked up momentum when the organisation sent an open letter on February 10 to the Prime Minister, State Premiers and Chief Minister calling for support for mandatory accessibility standards to be included in the National Construction Code.
The response from Ministers so far has only been that they will consider the final regulatory impact statement and a decision will be taken at the next Building Ministers Meeting to be held in March or April, Building Better Homes campaign director, Alistair Webster told F2L.
According to Webster the decision about whether to include mandatory minimum accessibility standards will have an impact on millions of Australians who currently cannot get access to housing that meets their needs. This includes people with disability, older Australian and people recovering form illness or injury.
“Opportunities for major structural reform are rare and we have a real opportunity to change the lives of millions of Australians, their friends and families. This is an issue that affects all Australians, and all Australians should get behind it.”
He said there are five ways the community can help to succeed in gaining changes to the National Building Code. These are:
- Share this link to a petition on social media and through newsletters: www.change.org/BetterHomes
- Share Building Better Homes Campaign Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter posts with personal and professional networks on social media
- Write to Building Ministers calling for reform
- Complete or share the survey of people with mobility limitations
- Become a partner and go to: www.buildingbetterhomes.org.au
Nearly three-quarters of Australians with mobility impairment are unable to find housing that meets their needs. More than 10 years after the voluntary Liveable Housing Design Guidelines were adopted, it is estimated that only around 5 per cent of new home builds meet these voluntary guidelines and it is clear that only mandatory standards will meet the growing demand for accessible housing, demand that is only going to increase as our population ages.
Independent economic analysis undertaken by the Melbourne Disability Institute at the University of Melbourne found that the benefits clearly outweigh the costs of implementing a mandatory accessibility standard. The benefits include more opportunity for people with disability to live independent, productive lives, more choice for older Australians to age at home and improved support for people with chronic illness or injury.
Mandatory accessibility standards will have clear financial benefits for Commonwealth and State and Territory Governments, with significant savings expected across the aged care sector, the health and hospitals sector and the National Disability Insurance Scheme.