UDIA welcomed the opportunity to offer comments to the Livable Housing Requirements in NSW Discussion Paper.
While UDIA supports the goal of increasing the choice of housing options for people with a disability, UDIA however believes the costs of a mandatory and/or sector wide approach being proposed in options 3 and 4 in the consultation paper to achieving this goal significantly outweighs the benefits, and would not be commensurate with the level of demand for accessible housing.
Discussions with our members indicate that the construction cost estimates in the discussion paper are too low and don’t reflect current realities. Moreover, it is important to consider the opportunity of lost yield in delivering to a mandated silver standard given the additional space required for accessible bathrooms must come by either reducing the size of those apartments living spaces or reducing the overall number of apartments being delivered in a project.
Our full submission can be found at the download link below. We have also provided an addendum that contains expanded feedback that was not included in the original document. The addendum can be downloaded at this link