Attachment 7 · MCU21/0083

Housing that meets the needs of our
diverse community
Preamble
The front line for disability campaigners in the 2020’s has shifted from ‘awareness’ to
‘accessibility’. Attention to the finer details of how domestic dwellings can be improved to address
the independence of disabled people is now a key consideration for campaigners, designers, builders
and developers.

People living with a disability will often identify a desire to live independent lives in their own home,
perhaps with occasional support from family or healthcare workers or well-chosen adaptive
technology and so on. Adaptations that help disabled people such as stair lifts are usually applied to
the home as an ‘aftermarket’ concern or retrofit.

Increasingly people are beginning to think differently, perhaps in the wake of successful public
builds, about how buildings can cater for disability from the outset. The possibility of looking at
things another way is beginning to form questions around the traditional design of residential
buildings. What if buildings were designed to be accessible from the start? How can people, disabled
or not, get the best out of a building over the course of a lifetime?



What are accessible houses?
The Federal Government refers to Livable Housing Australia’s (LHA) ‘Livable Housing Design
Guidelines’ for the definition of accessible housing. The guideline was developed in partnership with
industry and the community and establishes nationally agreed guidance on designing and building
livable homes. It sets 15 liveable design elements for class 1 – 4 buildings and provides guidance on
what performance is expected to achieve three levels of accessible design standards:

    •   Silver standard of living;
    •   Gold standard of living; or
    •   Platinum standard of living.
To achieve the LHA standards, dwellings must be designed to comply with a suite of requirements
detailed in the Livable Housing Design Guidelines. To be certified as a compliant LHA dwelling there
is currently a separate certification process undertaken only by accredited LHA assessors. This
process will change to the silver standard as this is soon to be included in the National Construction
Code and will subsequently be incorporated into the relevant state building codes. The assessment
will then be in line with the standard building certification processes in place.


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Housing that meets the needs of our
diverse community

Preamble

The front line for disability campaigners in the 2020’s has shifted from ‘awareness’ to

‘accessibility’. Attention to the finer details of how domestic dwellings can be improved to address
the independence of disabled people is now a key consideration for campaigners, designers, builders

and developers.

People living with a disability will often identify a desire to live independent lives in their own home,
perhaps with occasional support from family or healthcare workers or well-chosen adaptive
technology and so on. Adaptations that help disabled people such as stair lifts are usually applied to

the home as an ‘aftermarket’ concern or retrofit.

Increasingly people are beginning to think differently, perhaps in the wake of successful public
builds, about how buildings can cater for disability from the outset. The possibility of looking at
things another way is beginning to form questions around the traditional design of residential
buildings. What if buildings were designed to be accessible from the start? How can people, disabled

or not, get the best out of a building over the course of a lifetime?

What are accessible houses?

The Federal Government refers to Livable Housing Australia’s (LHA) ‘Livable Housing Design
Guidelines’ for the definition of accessible housing. The guideline was developed in partnership with
industry and the community and establishes nationally agreed guidance on designing and building
livable homes. It sets 15 liveable design elements for class 1 — 4 buildings and provides guidance on

what performance is expected to achieve three levels of accessible design standards:

e Silver standard of living;

e Gold standard of living; or

e Platinum standard of living.
To achieve the LHA standards, dwellings must be designed to comply with a suite of requirements
detailed in the Livable Housing Design Guidelines. To be certified as a compliant LHA dwelling there
is currently a separate certification process undertaken only by accredited LHA assessors. This
process will change to the silver standard as this is soon to be included in the National Construction
Code and will subsequently be incorporated into the relevant state building codes. The assessment

will then be in line with the standard building certification processes in place.