Opening the Door Project

The Opening the Door project aims to support people with disability to achieve choice and control with their housing options, including through:

Developing and sharing online resources. You can access these from other project pages to the Opening the Door drop down menu. You can find some useful resources here.
Forums designed to both share information and gather experiences
Support existing and establish new peer networks.

Opening the Door Forums Schedule

Future forum session dates for Victoria are listed below, with some details being finalised. These are the last in our state and territory forum series.

In 2023, we will be recommencing a series of lunchtime forum sessions on particular issues, such as sharing houses, and home modifications.

By attending the Forum events, we hope that people with disability and their families will:

Develop a shared understanding of housing – both regarding opportunities, and barriers that need to be addressed
Identify different housing and support options that are available, while recognising the current challenges.

All people are welcome to attend the Online Sessions. Face-to-face Workshop Sessions are intended for people with disability, their families/ friends/ unpaid, carers and any support needed to attend.

You can find out more about each forum session here: OtD_State Forum Sess Details_v1.0

Want to know more about the Forums? Contact us for further information.

- Victoria - Online Sessions

Monday 13 February 2023, 11:30am - 1:00pm: Pathways to Housing for People with Disability in Victoria. Register here
Tuesday 14 February 2023, 11:30am - 1:00pm: Dealing with Tenancy Issues for People with Disability in Victoria. Register here
Wednesday 15 February 2023, 11:30am - 1:00pm: National Disability Insurance Scheme: Home and Living Supports. Register here

- Victoria - Face-to-face 'Opening the Door' Housing Workshops

Tuesday 21 February, 10:00am - 2:00pm: Melbourne CBD. Storey Hall, 336/348 Swanston Street, Melbourne. Register here
Wednesday 22 February, 10:00am - 2:00pm: Bendigo. MacKenzie Hall, 10-12 MacKenzie Street, Bendigo. Register here

- Lunchtime Online Forums

Dates will be listed here when finalised

Why this project?

The features of the social and physical environment play a key role in the physical, social and emotional wellbeing of all community members. For many people with disability, the everyday impact of these features can be particularly challenging – even more so when different aspects of a person’s identity can expose them to overlapping forms of discrimination and marginalisation.

We all have to deal with the complexities of the housing system. Various conventions, including the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD), outline the rights to adequate housing for all people, including those with disability. Article 19 of the CRPD notes:

Persons with disabilities have the right to choose how and with whom they live.
Persons with disabilities have the right to the full range of in-home and community supports to realise and sustain their living arrangement of choice and more broadly for social and community inclusion and participation.

Exercising these rights is often not so straightforward. Key issues that we note for people with disability include:

Inadequate housing supply – for example, through general undersupply of housing; housing unaffordability; inappropriate housing design; and, discrimination in the housing rental sector.
Inadequate allowance for housing arrangements to be developed around a person – for example, through the tethering of the provision and management of paid support with the provision and management of housing (e.g., with group homes); and, through a lack of opportunities for people to meet and share housing with people that they want to live with.
Difficulties in navigating the housing system and other adjacent systems (disability, community services, health, legal, financial, etc.) to achieve suitable, sustainable housing outcomes. People need to have choice and control with their housing options. This includes through straightforward access to reasonable and necessary supports – be it through the NDIS, My Aged Care or mainstream services.

Project Partners

and the state & territory members of National Shelter

Project funding is through the Australian Government’s Information, Linkages & Capacity Building program.

Opening the Door News & Updates

10 May 2022 - ACT Housing Solutions Innovation Group - Terms of Reference approved

R&IA has convened regular meetings of the ACT Housing Solutions Innovation Group (HSIG) since early 2020. The HSIG works, through both direct action and advocacy, to promote the housing rights of people with disability in the ACT. You can access the Terms of Reference here (Word Version).