Advocacy for Inclusion (AFI), a peak ACT disability body, will be kicking off this years Anti-Poverty week with an online forum “Finding home: accessible and affordable housing in Canberra” being held via zoom from 12.30 – 2.00 pm Monday 17 October 2022.
This forum is being hosted by Advocacy for Inclusion with support from the ACT Council of Social Service and will mark the start of Anti-Poverty week highlighting housing accessibility and affordability issues for people with disability struggling to find and maintain suitable housing in our city.
People with lived experience and advocates will share their experiences of public, social and private rental in Canberra alongside the launch of AFI’s new white papers on housing and income support which spotlight affordability and accessibility challenges for people with disabilities.
We will also hear from Government, industry, and housing advocates about work underway to respond to these issues as well as gaps in responses. More details will be released closer to the event.
Head of Policy Craig Wallace added “People with disability face a double disadvantage in Canberra – a lack of affordable housing and a lack of appropriate built form. These issues are amplified by low rates of Disability support Pension (DSP) and Jobseeker and Canberra’s high cost private rental market.
“The current rate of DSP is just over $450 a week for a single person. This is inadequate for people seeking to access and maintain housing, fuel, medical expenses, clothes, food and manage the costs of disability. We will be releasing new analysis which shows the impacts of low rates of income support on the weekly budgets of people with disability in Canberra
You can register for the forum here: http://www.advocacyforinclusion.org/finding-home-accessible-and-affordable-housing-in-canberra/
For media comment contact Craig Wallace on 0477 200 755