A Perth disability advocate has backed calls for more accessible social housing, saying people with disabilities are facing difficult times.
Youth Disability Advocacy Network interim chief executive Isabella Choate said such housing being advocated by Vincent mayor Alison Xamon for the derelict Stirling Towers site in Highgate was “life-changing”.
“There is an urgent need for more accessible social housing,” she said.
“I strongly advocate for designated apartments specifically for people with disability, and for all apartments in the Stirling Towers redevelopment to be accessible — accessibility is for everyone.”
Ms Choate was responding to Ms Xamon’s announcement last week that the City of Vincent would push for a good percentage of housing for people with disabilities at the Highgate site.
Ms Xamon was welcoming the State Government’s naming of a consortium to demolish Stirling Towers and develop a social and affordable build-to-rent project.
The Vincent mayor confirmed there had been discussions between the city and the Department of Communities.
“I’ve been advocating quite strongly with the Department of Community to ensure that as we move forward turning the new development into social and affordable housing, it’s quite important that priority be given to people with disability, most notably people with physical disability,” she told the council meeting.
“People with physical disability often need to be located centrally. And the reason for that is it’s easier to be able to access services, but importantly a lot of people with physical disability have limited mobility and may not have a car.
“And so that means that access to public transport to affordable Ubers and taxis becomes really quite critical.
“And so I have been calling on the Department of Communities…to see if they can prioritize a special build that will ensure there is a larger number of accommodation options available for people with particular physical disability.”
Asked to clarify how much disability housing she was seeking in the development, Ms Xamon told The West Australian: “My proposal is that most, if not all the development is designed to cater to people with physical disability.”
A State Government spokesperson said the percentage of “specialist disability dwellings” would be considered in the design stage of the development, part of its pilot Housing Diversity Pipeline.
“The redevelopment of the site will deliver new apartments in a mix of social housing and affordable rentals, through the build-to-rent model, and will create a new urban community close to major public transport hubs and local amenities,” the spokesperson said.
“The mix of social, affordable and specialist disability dwellings will be considered through the design development phase of the project.”
Ms Choate encouraged the Government to consider housing designed for more disability types.
“There are ways to design accessibly for sensory, intellectual, neurological, psychosocial, and other forms of disability,” she said.
“It is a very difficult time for people with disabilities finding housing.
“At least one in five West Australians live with disability and approximately 0.01 per cent of people with disability live in social housing.
“Most accessible housing is only available to NDIS participants, who make up roughly 13 per cent of people with disability in WA.
“Many people with disability are forced into the private sector where there is a shortage of housing meeting our needs.
“Many are becoming more vulnerable due to the inadequacies of homes in the private sector – mould, carrying wheelchairs and wheelchair users up multiple flights of steps, not being able to utilise basic home facilities due to their design. This shatters independence.”
“Additionally, many people with disability face discrimination when applying for private rentals or share houses.
“Accessible and affordable housing, such as that being advocated for by the Vincent mayor is life changing.
“Having the infrastructure to cook your own meals, use the bathroom with minimal assistance, and enjoy your living space. These are all basic things many people take for granted, yet people with disability often do not have the financial security to make these renovations if they cannot access social housing.”
Ms Xamon said she was pleased to see the long vacant Stirling Towers finally make way for redevelopment.
“As someone who lives in that local area I want to say what a relief it is,” she said.
“Not only for myself and my family but for I think everyone around. It’s been very unfortunate that since Stirling Towers was cleared out (of public housing tenants), it has effectively become a hub of anti-social behaviour and vandalism.
“And it continues to cause considerable distress for local residents, as well as the fact that it’s a lost opportunity to ensure that we’ve got social and affordable housing in what it should be a high-density area.”
An application to demolish Stirling Towers is expected to be lodged this financial quarter.
