Government homelessness inquiries in Australia have ignored disabled peoples
Research shows that people who experience chronic homelessness are likely to have complex needs linked to a developmental or psychiatric disability, a traumatic brain injury, physical health problems and/or mental health issues. Today’s post examines the intersection of disability and homelessness in the context of the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Social Policy and Legal Affairs inquiry into homelessness in Australia initiated in February 2020 and the Victorian Government inquiry into homelessness initiated in June 2019. The post raises important questions about whose voices are being heard and included in these inquiries, given that the call for submissions and public hearings overlapped with bushfires, bushfire recovery and the COVID-19 pandemic - a time when the resources and energy of many people with disability, Disabled People’s Organisations, and people in insecure housing were stretched to breaking point and their capacity to focus on and influence the business of government was severely limited. These are not the only examples of government failing to factor the needs and circumstances of people with disability into consultation processes, and it smacks of systemic bias. This post’s author, who has lived experience of disability and homelessness and started a support group for homeless women, is still in search of stable housing herself. She has asked to remain anonymous.
People with disabilities have been hardest hit by homelessness and COVID-19. Just over 22% of Australians have a disability, yet people with disabilities are over-represented among the homeless in Australia (https://melbourneinstitute.unimelb.edu.au/assets/documents/hilda-bibliography/other-publications/2012/Beer_etal_Homelessness-and-Disability-FINAL-REPORT-2-2.pdf). People with disability are at higher risk of becoming and remaining homeless due to being on a low income/unemployed, having physical health problems, and due to the discrimination and failures to support people with disabilities in the housing system and private rental market (https://www.adelaide.edu.au/news/news73702.html). Many homeless people with disabilities live with complex medical conditions, mental health issues, and/or physical health issues (https://melbourneinstitute.unimelb.edu.au/assets/documents/hilda-bibliography/other-publications/2012/Beer_etal_Homelessness-and-Disability-FINAL-REPORT-2-2.pdf and https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/homelessness-services/sleeping-rough-profile-shs-clients/contents/table-of-contents), which increases their risk of catching and dying from COVID-19.
Both the Australian Government and the Victorian Government have held inquiries into homelessness during bushfire recovery and in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic. These overlapping, major and long-lasting crises have prevented many disabled peoples living in insecure housing or homeless from making submissions within the inquiries’ timeframes. Not all submissions have been published on the federal inquiry website, but there’s no evidence in the inquiry’s interim report released in October 2020 of direct input from Disabled People’s Organisations or advocacy organisations who support homeless people with disabilities (https://parlinfo.aph.gov.au/parlInfo/download/committees/reportrep/024523/toc_pdf/Shelterinthestorm%e2%80%93COVID-19andhomelessness.pdf;fileType=application%2Fpdf). Furthermore, there was not one submission from a disabled persons organisation to the homelessness inquiry in Victoria published online by the original closing date of June 2020 (https://www.parliament.vic.gov.au/lsic-lc/inquiries/article/4282). The date for submissions to the Victorian inquiry has since been extended to February 2021, but the risk remains that the experiences of those hit hardest by COVID-19 and homelessness may be excluded from both inquiries. These include peoples with disabilities; homeless peoples themselves; Disabled Person’s Organisations; mental health organisations; and community and other organisations that support homeless peoples with disabilities and/or mental illness.
I contacted the federal inquiry after the call for submissions closed in June 2020 to ask for more time for disability advocates, homeless peoples and Disabled Person’s Organisation’s to make submissions. I was told it would be up to the Committee if they accept late submissions in each case. This option is not published on its website https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/House/Social_Policy_and_Legal_Affairs/HomelessnessinAustralia). The lives of many disabled peoples were upended for the majority of 2020, and many had to flee cities to escape COVID-19, heading to more remote areas with limited resources, support and housing where there are no housing services or housing workers and limited disability support workers available. The pandemic has had, and will continue to have, a huge impact on the physical and mental health, finances, and support networks of people with disability living in unstable housing and has made many people with disabilities homeless.
In my experience of homelessness and supporting other homeless peoples with disabilities, every organisation says it is the responsibility of the NDIS to house you. It takes years to be assessed from an OT and then the NDIS for housing, and this is used by non-NDIS mainstream housing organisations as an excuse to not house you and leaves you homeless. The NDIS will only house a limited amount of homeless people with disability – only 6% of people with disability in the NDIS who have 24/7 care needs will get Specialist Disability Accommodation (SDA) (https://www.ndis.gov.au/providers/housing-and-living-supports-and-services/housing/specialist-disability-accommodation), and only those with severe disabilities who meet strict criteria will get Supported Independent Living (SIL) (https://www.ndis.gov.au/providers/housing-and-living-supports-and-services/housing/supported-independent-living). I have 12 major disability modification needs but I did not get SDA because I do not have 24/7 care needs. This means I cannot get SIL accommodation modified in the ways I need to live a functional life, because SIL providers won’t do this without you having SDA funding. There is also extremely limited housing stock for SIL without SDA funding, and almost all of the vacancies in Victoria are in shared housing or high-rise apartment/ high-density housing where people with disabilities are unsafe during the COVID-19 pandemic. Vacancies can be searched on the housing hub website (https://www.housinghub.org.au/) using the search filters long-term or medium-term accommodation, and ticking the no SDA funding box. Furthermore, the majority of NDIS funded housings, including SIL and SDA, are shared living arrangements, which means the majority of people housed through NDIS pathways will not get their own housing. This in turn means that the same pre-NDIS congregate care model issues and institutionalisation issues exist, but operating in the NDIS context with fewer safeguards.
The average cost of keeping someone in a group home is $137,000 per year (https://theconversation.com/the-forgotten-660-000-locked-out-of-home-ownership-74926), and NDIS Short-Term-Accommodation providers delivering 1:1 support can charge between approximately $24,000 per month per participant in non-remote areas, to $32,000 in remote areas, to $40,000 in very remote areas (https://www.ndis.gov.au/providers/price-guides-and-pricing). These costs show that the unmet housing needs for people with disability (estimated in 2014 as 122,000 participants) (Connellan 2014) will not be able to be met by the NDIS alone. It is in the best interests of everyone to work towards changing the housing and homelessness system to support homeless peoples with disabilities and/or mental illness, and to work on making housing more accessible, not just for disabled peoples but also because we have an aging population, and older women are the fastest growing population of homelessness in Australia (https://humanrights.gov.au/sites/default/files/document/publication/ahrc_ow_homelessness2019.pdf). Our federal and state governments must address these issues and create a disability roadmap for sustainable and accessible housing provision for people with disabilities in Australia. This change is essential to offer pathways for people with disabilities in institutions to be housed in the community when they want it. It is also essential for people with disabilities to have choice and control over where we live, with whom we live, our housing modifications, and our body sovereignty (who gets to touch our bodies).
People like me, disabled peoples and homeless peoples, have a lot to contribute to the homelessness inquiries and we need our voices to be heard in them. No housing reform or recommendations can help disabled peoples if we are not consulted and involved in the reforms. It is unreasonable for governments to expect us to contribute to two inquiries without support and without any extension of time to contribute, while we are homeless, sleep deprived, and dealing with the health impacts and economic fallouts of a global pandemic and trying to protect ourselves from dying from our complex health issues and COVID-19. When the inquiries are over, reflect on whose voices are included in the reports and policies that emerge. Please share this article to raise awareness and advocate that the federal and state homelessness inquiries re-open their submission timeframes to accept and publish all late submissions, extending their deadline for submissions until at least 31 March 2021.
References and more reading
AIHW (2018) Sleeping Rough, a Profile of Specialist Homelessness Services Clients.
Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, Australian Government, Canberra
Beer, Andrew; Batterham, Deb; Baker, Emma and Mallett, Shelley (2011) ‘Non-psychiatric disability and homelessness: Building an evidence base for better policy’ Parity, Vol. 24, No. 9, Oct 2011: 29-30
Connellan, J. (2014). Big disruptive and here to stay: The impact of the National Disability Insurance Scheme on not for profit housing and homelessness agencies. Parity, 27(5), 23-24.
Parliament of Australia (2020) Shelter In The Storm – Covid-19 And Homelessness: Interim report of the inquiry into homelessness in Australia. House of Representatives Standing Committee on Social Policy and Legal Affairs Canberra, Australian Government, Canberra
Parliament of Victoria (2020) Inquiry into Homelessness in Victoria - Interim Report https://www.parliament.vic.gov.au/lsic-lc/article/4287
Weeramanthri H (2019) Share housing: A strategic response to community housing needs, housing affordability and housing shortages. Parity, 32(7), 18-19
Questions for the author can be sent via Power to Persuade here: http://www.powertopersuade.org.au/contact-us
Moderator: Sue Olney