Livable Housing Design – Is It Likely to Work?

The lack for accessible housing in Australia has contributed to the marginalisation and exclusion of people with disability, older people and their families (Saugeres, 2010). It has also resulted in significant cost to the community, through an over-reliance on support services and specialist accommodation, and responses to avoidable home-based injuries (Ozanne-Smith, Guy, Kelly & Clapperton, 2008; Saugeres, 2010). To this end, the Commonwealth Government, with key housing industry and community representatives, has committed to a voluntary approach, named Livable Housing Design, to increase the supply of accessible housing. The experience of other countries with similar challenges serves to question whether this approach will work.