Business people taking notes.

Budget 2010 - promoting Lifetime Design

The Government is investing $1.5 million over the next three years to help promote design standards for homes that are accessible over a person's lifetime.

The Lifetime Design standard (an initiative of CCS Disability Action) promotes and licenses designs for new homes which incorporate features that make them safe, affordable, comfortable, and easy to adapt to changing family needs, particularly those of disabled and older family members.

Research estimates the initiative has the potential to save New Zealand around $20 million each year averaged over a 30-year period.

Research carried out by the Ministry of Social Development and the Centre for Housing Research Aotearoa New Zealand found the following:

  • Disabled people's housing needs are not being met by New Zealand's current housing stock. This need is likely to increase as disability and impaired mobility increases with an ageing population.
  • Disabled people and the government currently spend considerable amounts on housing modifications.
  • Much of this expenditure is on very basic home alterations such as widening doorways and installing wet area showers - modifications that would be easier and more cost-effective if they were integrated into newly-built and renovated housing.
  • If basic house designs were more accessible, specialised home alterations tailored to an individual would be more affordable and better targeted.

The research suggested that the priorities for New Zealand should be:

  • 'future-proofing' mainstream housing with universal and accessible design
  • improving policy and funding for home modifications customised for individual needs
  • building capacity in the housing and disability sectors to optimise accessibility in new and renovated houses and houses modified for a particular disabled person
  • more efficient use of housing stock that has already been modified.

The Lifetime Design initiative goes some way to meeting these priorities. It will also promote the stock of accessible housing for older and disabled people, and include a marketing campaign to raise public awareness of such houses.