The Grattan Institute has called for significant changes in NDIS housing and support to improve outcomes for people with disability who need access to 24/7 support.
The Better, safe, more sustainable: How to reform NDIS housing and support report says about 43,500 people who need intensive support are getting little benefit from a scheme that was supposed to give them a better life.
The Grattan Institute’s report references the outcomes of a Summer Foundation environmental scan that identifies innovative examples of housing and living options both in Australia and overseas that are delivering better outcomes for people with disability.
Grattan report authors Sam Bennett and Hannah Orban said instead of having genuine choice over where they live, who they live with and who provides their support, people with profound disability are often left with only one option – group homes – where they are at high risk of violence, abuse and neglect.
“The cost of supporting these people is at least $15 billion per year, with average costs per resident of more than $350,000. That’s almost 40 per cent of the total costs of the NDIS for only 7 per cent of its users,” the report says.
“Governments need, and disabled people deserve, far better services for this price tag.”
The report calls for big, institutional-style group homes to be phased out within the next 15 years.
“There are better and cheaper alternatives to group homes, but they are not widely available because NDIS policies are too rigid and its funding too inflexible.”
The authors said other countries – notably the UK and Canada – have successfully reformed disability housing and introduced new living arrangements that offer people greater choice, safer accommodation and stronger links to their local community.
“Creating more options and better help for people to choose housing and living supports would be a win-win. It would transform the lives of Australians with the most profound disabilities, and it can be done efficiently to help make the NDIS more sustainable for future generations.
“Getting this right should be a litmus test for any government seeking to get the NDIS back on track.”
The Summer Foundation’s Innovation in housing and living for people with disability, environmental scan report, has identified promising models of innovation that can create alternative options to group homes, spanning housing, support and technology.
The scan shows that while there are only pockets of innovation in Australia, other countries have managed to scale up innovative models of housing and living supports that are delivering better outcomes.
The Summer Foundation’s CEO, Dr Di Winkler, said the scan suggested there is potential to use a combination of models to improve the quality and cost-effectiveness of housing and living support delivered in Australia.