Tasmanians with disability are experiencing greater housing insecurity and disadvantage than the general population, new data shows.
TasCOSS, in collaboration with Disability Voices Tasmania, has released new disability and housing indicators on the Tasmania’s State of Housing Dashboard, which highlight the fact that the housing needs of Tasmanians with disability are not being met.
TasCOSS CEO, Ms Adrienne Picone, said almost one-in-three Tasmanians have a disability (29%), the highest proportion anywhere is Australia, however accessible housing options in the state remain inadequate.
“The Dashboard shows one-quarter of applicants on the social housing waitlist have accessibility needs (23%),” Ms Picone said.
“Despite this level of need, there is still a significant undersupply of social housing built to accessibility standards.
“We join with Disability Voices Tasmania to reiterate calls for the Government to stick to its commitment to continue with the rollout of the Livable Housing Design Standards for both social and private housing, to ensure more housing stock is accessible for people with disability into the future.”
Disability Voices Tasmania Director, Mr Michael Small, said housing stress was exacerbated for older Tasmanians and those with disability.
“This housing disadvantage is underpinned by systemic inequalities, notably income inequality where people with disability are five-times more likely to rely on government income support and are twice as likely to live in low income households,” Mr Small said.
“The Government has an obligation to work with Tasmanians’ with disability to ensure access to the housing market.
“This starts with co-designing a dedicated Accessible Housing Strategy, which compliments the Tasmanian Housing Strategy, and contains clear, measurable KPIs and a timeline for delivery.”
Ms Picone said it is vital that equitable access to appropriate and affordable housing is identified as a key objective of the forthcoming Tasmanian Disability Inclusion Action Plan for Tasmania.
“Building in accessibility considerations needs to be a non-negotiable, not an afterthought, and we must ensure that all future social housing homes delivered by Homes Tasmania meet at least the Gold level of the Standards,” she said.
The Tasmania’s State of Housing Dashboard can be accessed at tascoss.org.au/state-of-housing. Still graphics from the Dashboard are also available for use by media here.