Hearth Launches Revolutionary Approach to Disability Housing
Background
Over the last two years Hearth has been working on a revolutionary solution to disability housing in Australia, for those people who are not eligible for Specialist Disability Accommodation (SDA) because they do not need a modified house! (i.e. 94% of NDIS participants are not eligible).
Hearth have also enlisted the assistance of PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) in an advisory capacity to assist in the implementation of this game changing initiative.
The Housing Problem
A number of the people not eligible for SDA would like to live like anyone else in the community and work towards renting or owning their own home over time.
The problem for them is that the government rental support they receive is not sufficient to rent somewhere suitable and on account of their disability they are not able to gain employment to pay the rent. As a result, they either live with their parents or move into clustered accommodation, not their own home.
The Solution is Complex
The solution to this problem is complex. It has not been done before and requires collaboratively exploring the unknown to learn what is required to establish the best Housing solution. Hearth has taken on the seemingly impossible.
The Hearth Housing Approach
We believe however that by establishing a strong partnership with participants and working with a quality team of dedicated support workers we can make this possible and a reality. Bricks and mortar in the location of choice is one important aspect of the solution. The other key component is having the support of an organisation to assist and promote participant independent living, together with 24 x 7 assured support to enable families to go about their life is also critical to making this work.
The Next Step
Our objective is to ensure as many participants as possible who need housing, in the next 1- or 10-years can gain access to Hearth Housing. We will do this by ensuring we capture their no obligation expressions of interest to get them officially registered so we can start to find them a housing solution.
For More Information
For more information about Hearth Housing visit the Housing section of our website.
Completing an expression of interest is an important first step in a collaboration to deliver on the seemingly impossible, being a solution to non-specialist disability housing enabling people with a disability to live their best life in their own home in their community of choice.
Warm Regards
Justin Scanlon
