Hearth Launches a Revolutionary Approach to Housing

Hearth Melbourne Housing

Solving the challenge for the 94% of people with a disability who do not have an independent housing solution

94% of people with a disability do not have a housing solution!

I have studied the housing options available to people with a disability and talked to many experts over the past 2 years and learnt an enormous amount about the available options. However, I still have much to learn as it is a very complicated area.

One key statistic caught my attention, 94% of people with a disability do not have a housing solution. 6% of people with a disability are entitled to Specialist Disability Accommodation or SDA. SDA is where the NDIS fund modified housing that people without a disability would generally not live in.

It is my belief that most people with a disability are more than able to live in housing embedded in the community that does not need significant modification. The challenge for these people who because of their disability are not able to gain employment to pay the rent, is that Government rental support is insufficient to cover the cost of renting somewhere with suitable access to family, transport and amenities.

PWC are providing support

I have been working on solving the challenge for the 94% with support from PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC). I have realised that this is not an easy problem to solve and demands a high level of collaboration with families & participants. My goal, however, is to come up with an appropriate and affordable solution that is facilitated by a simple customer experience.

Our Housing Solution Proposal

There are 3 key elements to our approach:

Participant Choice – A level of choice & control is important.
- Choice about where to live, who to live with and which support workers they work with
- It is a rental model with the properties owned by a separate but related entity from Hearth. There is a choice as to whether there is a financial gap to pay privately or not, depending on the location of the home and some other factors
Housing Formats
- 2- or 3-bedroom houses/ apartments
Housing Guiding Principles
- The home will promote independent living & be easy to maintain
- The properties should not be clustered housing, but rather embedded within local communities
- The homes will be situated close to public transport & support services should be accessible

To go to the next stage of a Hearth Housing partnership!

Understanding your needs is the next step.

So, if what we are working on is something you are interested in, please complete our no obligation expression of interest and we will be in touch.

Thankyou & stay safe.

Justin Scanlon