Included by design : a case for regulation for accessible housing in Australia.

Authors Ward, M.
Published 27th April 2011

Ward, Margaret (2011) Included by design : a case for regulation for accessible housing in Australia. In The First International Postgraduate Conference on Engineering, Designing and Developing the Built Environment for Sustainable Wellbeing, 27-29 April 2011, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Qld.

Accessible housing is a scarce yet much needed commodity in Australia. A national agreement between industry and advocacy groups to a voluntary approach, called the Livable Design program, aims to provide access features in all new housing by 2020. Through a range of awareness raising initiatives, the program is anticipating increased supply by builders and increased demand by home-buyers.
However the people who need accessible housing are the least likely and least able to buy it at the point of new sale and average homebuyers do not consider access features as a priority.

This approach has not been successful overseas or in Australia in the past. Regulation with incentives supported by education and awareness has provided the best results, yet, regulation typically comes with controversy and resistance from the housing industry. A study is planned to identify how effective the Livable Design program is likely to be, what is likely to hinder it and why regulation is likely to be needed.

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