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Summer Foundation Focus – July 2024

  • 11 July 2024

Welcome to our latest newsletter.

The Building Better Homes Campaign is calling on the NSW Government to end housing discrimination against people with disability.

For the past two years the NSW Government is one of only two state governments that has refused to sign up to the liveability and accessibility standards mandated in the National Construction Code – a set of design standards that require new housing developments to offer basic accessibility for all people.

These standards are not a lot to ask – they simply require developers to include things like a step free shower and level entry to the home.

The new campaign push is calling on the NSW Government to stop housing discrimination against people with disability and older people.

Over the past couple of months, the disability community has been focused on the NDIS Amendment Bill currently before Parliament. It is critical that the Bill supports positive reform to the Scheme to ensure it delivers better outcomes for people with disability (Read more here).

This month, the Summer Foundation launched our expanded co-design services. The expansion is a natural progression of our widely recognised excellence in bringing the voice of lived experience to our work.

As we head into the last 6 months of the year it looks increasingly unlikely that the government will meet its target of having no people aged under 65 living in aged care by 2025. I’ve written more about this in my latest piece for The Conversation, you can read it here.

There has been a welcome 31% decrease to 1,470 younger people living in aged care at the end of 2023. But this is largely due to people dying or ageing out of the Younger People in Residential Aged Care (YPIRAC) cohort.

It is also important to note that moving out of aged care does not guarantee better outcomes for younger people with disability. In 2023, 89 people moved out to group homes. We must work with the government and the sector to ensure better housing outcomes for people who need access to 24/7 support.

We’ll be talking about this at our Annual Public Forum – Fulfilling the NDIS promise in housing and living: Innovation starts today – coming up on 17 October. Save the date!

I look forward to seeing you there.

Di Winkler CEO and Founder

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Exciting growth in co-design services

The Summer Foundation is well known for excellence in bringing the voice of lived experience to its work, so it is exciting to see that the team is expanding their remit, which has seen a range  of external clients commission this service.
Read More

NDIS Amendment Bill update

There has been much discussion and debate in the community about reforms to the NDIS currently before Parliament. We know how important the NDIS is to people with disability and understand the anxiety and concern about the future of the NDIS in the disability community.
Read More

Meet Tania

My name is Tania Lewis, I am 52, I’ve been married to my hubby Lenny for 35 years. He is my best friend in life, we have known each other since we were little. Together we managed to create our daughter, she is beautiful, she is 25 now and is doing her own life. Life hasn’t always been great for us.
Read More
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