Project overview
Summer Foundation are co-designing a housing roadmap with NDIS participants including those with complex communication needs.
The project will co-design online tools and resources for participants to:
- navigate their housing journey
- foster awareness of diverse options
- build confidence to identify and work towards their home and living goals.
Project participants will have access to a peer support service to assist them understand their individual home and living options and goals.
Participant story
The second round of the NDIA’s Home and Living Demonstration Projects focuses on innovative projects that empower participants to explore home and living possibilities.
This round focuses on innovative projects that help participants explore and understand their home and living options. Among the grant recipients is the Summer Foundation.
As part of the grants provided by the NDIA in the second round of Home and Living Demonstration Projects, Summer Foundation co-designed a ‘Housing Roadmap’ with NDIS participants which has been published on the Housing Hub website. The aim of this initiative was to enhance access to information to support NDIS participants to make informed decisions about their home and living options. Lesley Davis was keen to share her learnings to help others through her experience in living in Supported Disability Accommodation (SDA).
Through a series of co-design workshops, Lesley and other NDIS participants came together to share their lived experiences and brainstorm ideas on ways to improve how participants access information about home and living. Lesley said she’s really happy with what the group has put forward to support people to find suitable home and living options given her own journey took 5 years to navigate.
‘I was a former nurse but then I had to retire when I was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis (MS).
‘My husband and I were living in a private rental and as my condition started to deteriorate it became totally unsuitable. It wasn’t flat or accessible; I hadn’t been able to access our backyard in years…all those things’ people take for granted, so it started to weigh heavily on my mind,’ Lesley shared.
Lesley also said she’s been overwhelmed with the positive feedback co-design staff have made about her and other NDIS participants contributions to the co-design workshop.
‘It’s been so rewarding to be a part of this co-design working group. Everyone in the group had varying disabilities and we were all able to discuss what was needed. Staff were open to our feedback; they embraced it and encouraged it. Staff said our contributions meant a lot – to have us there sharing our experiences’.
Lesley explained the challenges with her housing journey and noted ‘back then, all I needed was the right tools and information to do it. Now sharing our experiences, people will have everything they need to do it quicker, which means they can enjoy the life they deserve.’