On-site shared support (OSS) provides a significant opportunity for people with disability living in Specialist Disability Accommodation (SDA) apartments to increase control over their housing and support options and to lower the cost of their support.
Shared support in SDA apartments
Our UpSkill team has developed a new guide to delivering support coordination to people with complex needs.
The Summer Foundation was the proud promoter behind the Million Dollar Vax competition that received over 2.7 million entries in October. The aim was to increase the rate of vaccination nationally to reduce the burden on our healthcare systems and reduce the risk of infection to the most vulnerable in our community including people with disability. The campaign targeted regions with low vaccination rates.
Andrew, who is 49 years old, has been living in aged care in Tasmania for 4 years.
The Summer Foundation’s Housing Hub team will soon pilot a support coordination service that will specialise in developing housing evidence for Specialist Disability Accommodation (SDA) eligibility.
More than 330 people logged in to our 10th Annual Public Forum on 4 November. Reaching Towards Success – Closing the door to aged care for young people discussed the progress being made to end the need for younger people to live in aged care, as well as the barriers that remain.
Meet Kate, she has been living with MS for 26 years. She writes about her experience and explains why International Day of People with Disability is important.
The Summer Foundation’s board renewal process continued with new appointments and planned resignations at the AGM and Board meeting.
After many years’ service, both Professor Jacinta Douglas and Jason Chequer have stepped down from the board. Jacinta and Jason have both made enormous contributions to the work of the Summer Foundation.
The Summer Foundation’s Curator, Gina Fall, chats with Helen Burt about her work in a Summer Foundation codesign project. Helen has been a long-time contributor to the work of the Summer Foundation. She shares her lived experience of disability in an effort to create change. Recently, Helen has been working with a team to create resources for people thinking about moving out of aged care.
Individualised living arrangements are as unique as a fingerprint – at this recorded webinar we discuss how they can work to give people the opportunity to live the way they want.
At this webinar, you hear from Ned, who recently moved out of his family home and is living with 2 supportive housemates. You learn about Ned’s home, his living arrangement and learn about how NDIS participants and their supporters can get started with their own unique arrangements.
Many people with disability need support to live independently in the community, but don’t want to live in a group home. At this webinar you can build your understanding of individualised living, learn how the principles of person-centred planning together with the opportunities of the NDIS help create a way forward.
This webinar was delivered live on Monday 11 October 2021.
About UpSkill: UpSkill is a Summer Foundation program that offers professional development to support coordinators and NDIS allied health professionals so people with complex needs can be supported by skilled professionals to live well in the community. Find out more at: https://summerfoundation.org.au/project/upskill/
About Housing Hub: The Housing Hub is a website that lists over 1,500 accessible houses, apartments and other properties that may be suitable for people with disability to rent or buy. It is an initiative of the Summer Foundation.
About Bridge It: Bridge It Homes Connect – creative paths to safe, connected homes for people living with disability.
The Summer Foundation’s Information Service and Lived Experience Advisor, Emma Gee, again chats with one of the organisation’s Lived Experience Facilitators, Shanais Nielsen, about coming out of lockdown and planning to live in the new ‘COVID’ world.
Earlier this year, Lu and Gina met Ned, his housemates and his family to capture their experience living in an ‘individualised living option’ (ILO) homeshare arrangement.
Lu caught up with the housemates recently to see how it is all going.
It has been a few months since we met you and filmed your life in action, how has it been going since?
Ned – Wow it’s been a long time since we’ve met you. I have enjoyed hanging out with you guys [Duncan and Nic], we have been hanging out lots, laughing, joking, eating and watching tv shows together. I have been listening to lots of music and hanging out with all of my support workers. That’s the main thing I have been doing throughout the week.
Nic – I have been going well. I have enjoyed the time I have spent with the other guys since we filmed the footage. Although we have been quite busy lately, it has been great to get to know the guys and help each other.
Duncan – It has been going good, I feel like we are getting to know each other more, becoming more comfortable and really settling into a nice rhythm, despite the recent lockdown.
How did it feel sharing your experience?
Ned – I enjoyed sharing my experience. I liked doing it.
Nic – It felt great to be able to share our experience with other people that may be looking for similar situations to us. I hope that by sharing my experience I can help show people it is possible.
Duncan – It was an interesting experience, if not slightly daunting. However, it was great to be able to get the people from the Summer Foundation, who were super friendly and encouraging in their facilitating throughout the whole experience.
What do you hope others will learn from watching these clips?
Ned – That they can have their own house in a similar situation in the future if they want, too.
Nic – I hope others will learn that there are more living options for people living with a disability and their parents. No one should have to live with their parents or in a care facility for their whole lives. I also hope I can show young people how awesome it is to help others and the friendships you make along the way when doing so.
Duncan – I hope they will get an idea of our experience, which will help guide them in their decisions and opportunities for potential living arrangements.
Watch the clips on the Housing Hub website here.
Want to share your experience? Email peersupport@summerfoundation.org.au
Welcome to our spring update. It has been a particularly busy and satisfying few months for us.
Big changes are needed for the SDA market to meet its potential to help provide housing for an estimated 28,000 young people with disability.
The UpSkill Provider Directory was launched at the beginning of September. The platform gives people with disability online access to a searchable directory of support coordinators and NDIS allied health professionals.
The Summer Foundation’s Reasonable and Necessary podcast has attracted high-powered talent to discuss key issues and opportunities for the NDIS.
Following April’s historic decision by a majority of Building Ministers to incorporate mandatory minimum accessibility standards into the National Construction Code (NCC), it is now up to each state and territory to adopt the new NCC.
So far Victoria, Queensland, ACT, NT and Tasmania have agreed to do so, while NSW, Western Australia and South Australia have declared that they will opt-out.
In July, the Summer Foundation completed its 2-year NDIS Housing Options Project with the Department of Social Services’ Jobs and Market Fund Program.
The Summer Foundation–La Trobe University Research Program is designed to understand the issue of young people in aged care. By researching the issues at each stage of the critical pathways that lead young people to aged care we can provide the evidence needed to create systems change that will solve this problem.
The Housing Hub has a suite of new resources on the website for people who are thinking about moving out of a nursing home or other housing that doesn’t suit them.
The new Support Portal on the Housing Hub website is for professionals who are supporting people with disability to look for suitable housing. It makes everything about clients’ housing searches easier.
Housing Hub Lived Experience Coordinator Rebecca Evans took time out of her busy schedule to tell us about herself.
New podcasts, videos and support tools are now available on the Housing Hub website to help people moving out of aged care. Emma Gee, Summer Foundation staff member, speaks about creating these tools with a group of people with experience of the moving process.
Source: Australian Financial Review | Author: Michael Bleby
Specialist housing for disabled people, which has grown from nothing into a $2.5 billion asset class in just five years, is poised to expand a further fivefold in response to demand for housing that meets the needs of an estimated 28,000 young people, a new industry report shows.
The Summer Foundation’s Curator, Emma Gee, chats with 1 of the organisation’s Lived Experience Facilitators, Shanais Nielsen, about their experiences of living in lockdown.