Those with disabilities in Western Australia could be seeing their opportunities open up in the near future thanks to some of the changes that have taken place around the NDIS housing rules in the region. Any such improvements are of course always going to be a welcome change, as those with disabilities have traditionally been left to struggle. But what are the NDIS housing rules, and how are they likely to have an effect on individuals with disabilities in WA?
Here we are going to take a deeper look into understanding the NDIS housing rules in WA and how they affect individuals with disabilities. Some of these effects are likely to be genuinely life-altering, and they are absolutely worth being aware of, whether you have a disability or you are reading on behalf of someone else in your life.
Let’s take a look at this in some detail now.
What Is The NDIS?
But first, it might be helpful to discuss what the NDIS is in the first place, and what role it plays in all this. This stands for the National Disability Insurance Scheme, and it’s a scheme that many residential caring establishments sign up to, as a means of demonstrating how seriously they take their level of care, and to ensure they are kept within some regulations around that.
The NDIS’ rules have been passed in the federal government, so it’s an absolutely essential protocol that such establishments have to adhere to. And as it happens, some of the new rules are liable to make a huge difference in the lives of many individuals with disabilities in WA.
NDIS Housing WA Rules
So what exactly are the rules around NDIS housing in WA, and what are the likely results going to be for those affected? It’s certainly best to be well clued up on this, so let’s take a deep dive into some of the important details right now.
Aims
First of all, it is helpful to know about the aims and the general, overall approach that the NDIS has been taking with this. The primary aim is to ensure that we are working towards a more fully inclusive Australian society – something towards which there is still a lot of work to go, but these new rules are certainly going to be something of a help in the right direction at least.
Essentially, the aim here is to ensure that those individuals with the highest levels of needed support are able to have full access to all the mainstream services that are necessary, including of course housing.
Clearly that is an important aim, but how effective are these new rules in helping to achieve it, and how far do they go?
Support For Those With Complex Needs
Specifically, the rules are meant to be targeted towards those 6% of NDIS participants who are identified as having the most complex needs of all. These are often those who are left behind when it comes to housing as well as many other societal standards, so this is clearly a vital consideration here.
It is estimated that around 127,000 NDIS participants still have unmet needs when it comes to housing, so hopefully these changes are going to go some way towards rectifying that, as this is seen as a primary responsibility of the housing system federally. Clearly that has an impact in WA specifically as well for those with disabilities in the state.
The Rules & A Welcome Change
So now, the NDIS participants who are deemed to be eligible for accommodation in the form of specialist disability accommodation are going to have the chance to opt for something other than what might be considered the traditional disability accommodation. This opening-up is of course only going to be a good thing, and many people are already saying that it is too little too late. Nonetheless, it’s a welcome change.
Increased Options
So the main result for those with disabilities in WA is going to be the chance of having many more options for housing, and not just the more traditional kinds. With more of a range of pathways ahead, it means that more and more of those with disabilities might be able to move towards home ownership, or shared equity. There might also be a possibility for many to pool their resources in order to rent with friends.
Clearly, this offers a lot more in the way of housing freedom, and it’s likely that many in WA and beyond will be very happy about some of these changes. With NDIS housing in WA having been so restricted for so long, this means that disability is now going to be less of an impediment to good housing options than ever before. And that can only be a good thing for all of society in Australia.
Registering As Housing Provider
One of the main changes that are particularly of note is that the rules will now often allow individuals with disabilities to register as their own housing provider, rather than having to rely on more traditional structures for this. The result is that they can much more easily secure a property that actually meets their needs, as well as receiving SDA payments which could help in getting a loan.
So clearly, things are opening up in a number of ways thanks to these rules changes. However, that’s not all. It’s also the case that as part of this new regulation, there has to be a minimum standard level for accommodation – including, for instance, home modifications as necessary and assistive technologies. So that is another way that the lives of those with disabilities is likely to improve considerably now and into the future.
As you can see, NDIS housing in WA is set to radically improve, and in the process the lives of those with disabilities in the state are likely to improve too. These changes may well just be the beginning of a long process, but in any case they are certainly welcome.
