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Tag: Housing

  • Submission to the Disability Royal Commission: Issues paper on Group Homes

    Submission to the Disability Royal Commission: Issues paper on Group Homes

    WWDACT is seeking to provide through this submission a summary of the research and anecdotal evidence we have gathered from the ACT community to provide perspective on the major issues occurring within Group Homes. We do not name people or organisations, and our evidence is focused on systemic issues. We are particularly concerned about the deprivation of human rights endemic to the group home model, which maintains institutionalised violence against women, girls,
    non-binary and feminine identifying people with disabilities. Data collection on violence against women* with disabilities is limited, despite the known prevalence of violence, abuse, neglect and exploitation against them.

    The most recent United Nations Outcomes Report on Australia’s implementation of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities indicated that the Committee was “concerned about: a) The fact that the specialist disability accommodation (SDA) framework facilitates and encourages the establishment of residential institutions and will result in persons with disabilities having to live in particular living arrangements to access NDIS supports;” and recommends that “that [Australia] … Develop a national framework for the closure of all disability-specific residential institutions”. This
    feedback alone makes it clear that Group Homes violate Australia’s human rights obligations.

    The term Group Home, is in itself a misnomer. A ‘home’ is a place where a woman* lives, with which she identifies and where she feels a sense of belonging. This is not the environment created in many group living configurations. A Group House refers, instead, to the bricks and mortar, to the building in which the woman* lives. This absence of a feeling that she is part of a ‘family’ is reflected in the fact that most domestic and family violence legislation does not regard the group home as a family
    or domestic setting. For many women* with disabilities the institutional feel of their
    accommodations is such that the term Group House is used.

    You can read our full submission below.

    WWDACT_Group_Homes_Submission-FinalDownload submission

  • Make Renting Fair – Open Letter

    WWDACT has signed an open letter with 13 other community organisations to call on the ACT government to bolster their proposed rental reforms by amending the Residential Tenancies Act to abolish no cause, unfair evictions.

    We know that women with disabilities are often faced with challenges in the private rental market, with a CHOICE report last year saying that people with disabilities are nearly twice as likely to experience unfair evictions. People with disabilities are also likely to experience greater moving costs, and spend more time looking for a suitable home.

    The letter also includes a call to require approval by the Tribunal for rent increases above CPI and minimum energy efficiency and safety standards for rental properties in the territory. It is hoped that such reforms would help make homes more affordable, more comfortable and safer for renters.

    You can add your support by writing to your local MLA letting them know you support abolishing unfair evictions. You can find out more about the Make Renting Fair Alliance at: http://www.makerentingfaircbr.org.au/

    Read the letter here.

    Watch a clip from WIN News here:

  • Submission to Towards A New Housing Strategy: An ACT Community Conversation

    Submission to Towards A New Housing Strategy: An ACT Community Conversation

    The new housing strategy must have accessibility consideration incorporated in all facets of the policy, that the relative disadvantage of women with disabilities compared to non-disabled women and men with disabilities be considered, and that a major object of the policy be to maximise the housing choices for all people in the lowest two income quintiles in the ACT.

    You can read our full submission below.

    20170908_WWDACT_Housing-Submission_FinalDownload submission
  • Submission on Innovative Housing Opportunities and Supported Living Opportunities in the ACT

    Submission on Innovative Housing Opportunities and Supported Living Opportunities in the ACT

    Accessibility is a precondition for women and men with disabilities to live independently and participate fully and equally in society. Without access to the physical environment, to transportation, to information and communication – including information and communication technologies and systems – and to other facilities and services open or provided to the public, people with disabilities would not have equal opportunities for participation in society.

    Nationally, the majority of people with disabilities live in private dwellings (94%). The
    remainder of people with disabilities (6%) live in non-private dwellings, with nearly two-thirds of these (4%) living in cared accommodation. However, there is no publically available data that helps us understand the situation of women and men with disabilities in the ACT.

    Strategies to create housing opportunities for women and men with disabilities in the ACT must be effective both at the community level and also at an individual level. At international law, this is the difference between the principle of accessibility and the principle of reasonable accommodation (respectively). Care must be taken not to confuse or conflate these two principles.

    It is very important that the specific needs of women with disabilities (i) for safety and
    protection against violence; (ii) for recognition of their family responsibilities as parents and carers; and (iii) as they age to be expressly embedded in each and every housing option under consideration.

    You can read our full submission below.

    WWDACT-submission-on-innovative-housing-opportunities-in-the-ACTDownload submission