Executive Summary
Background
This document sets out Housing New Zealand’s policy on the accessibility of Housing New Zealand’s properties for current and future customers.
For Housing New Zealand, accessibility is about our customers living in our homes as their circumstances change; to have family, whānau and friends visit; and to be part of the wider community they live in without barriers, and includes the features of the homes we already have and will be building in the future.
While there are major data gaps in what we know about our customers’ needs, it is likely the incidence and trends of disability within the general population are applicable to Housing New Zealand’s customers, and, over time, that there will be increasing numbers and proportions of people living with all types of disabilities; this trend may be particularly pronounced for our customer base.
For some people, Housing New Zealand will need to provide homes that are modified to address a disability or specialised needs. For all others, we should provide homes that meet universal design standards that allow a building to be adapted over time to meet customers’ changing needs.
The policy also distinguishes between our new builds, which offer a cost-effective way to address accessibility features from the start, and our existing homes, which may need more extensive and invasive modification to address accessibility needs.
This Accessibility Policy sits alongside our Customer Strategy, which identifies disabled people as an important cohort, and our Asset Management Strategy, which is focused on the unprecedented scale of our build programme in the coming decades.
This policy is informed by some important external contexts, including the New Zealand Disability Strategy 2016-2026, the development of the Disability Action Plan 2019-2022 (of which this policy is an action); and the World Health Organization’s Housing and Health Guidelines (2018).
Importantly, we have developed the policy based on extensive engagement with internal and external stakeholders.
We commit to supporting our customers to live in a home that suits them
In developing our policy, we have been mindful of the need to state some operating principles or commitments that will inform how we make decisions and interact with our customers.
To that end, Housing New Zealand:
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Recognises the need to identify and remove barriers faced by all disabled people, and will achieve greater accessibility by aligning with a culture that recognises the dignity and worth of every individual, within a household, within a community
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Will seek to find varied and flexible solutions that meet our customers’ needs and allow them to live with dignity and independence for as long as they choose or are able
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Will engage, support and advocate for the development of a more inclusive and diverse community
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Will focus on removing barriers to full community participation for all our tenants and their whānau
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Will produce accessible solutions reflective of what communities need across a range of locations and types of homes
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Commits to active engagement with communities including the disability sector, and recognises the integral place the disability sector has in our communities
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Has a responsibility to meet our obligations under the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and those contained within the New Zealand Disability Strategy 2016-2026 and its linked Disability Action Plan.
Key Elements of the Policy
This policy is built around three outcomes, with a set of components under each:
What you will see:
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At least 15 percent of our new builds will meet our full universal design standards, and the rest will meet as many of our universal design standards as possible
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We will support customers to live in homes that are customised to their needs:
• this includes completing modifications to their home ourselves or finding a home that better suits their needs.
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We will explore how our universal design standards can be included as part of our retrofit programme for existing homes.
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Systematic data collection about the accessibility features of our homes so that we can better match customers to a home that meets their needs.
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A better understanding of our customers’ needs so that we can better support current and future customers.
High-level timeline
September 2019
Housing New Zealand’s Board approves the Accessibility Policy
October 2019
Housing New Zealand becomes part of Kāinga Ora – Homes and Communities
Late 2019
Kāinga Ora – Homes and Communities formally launches the Accessibility Policy
Implementation of the Accessibility Policy begins
2020
We hold our 2nd Housing Accessibility Symposium – we will report back on our progress in implementing the Accessibility Policy
2020-2021
(financial year)
We will record and begin reporting on the number of our new builds that meet our universal design standards
2021-2022 (financial year)
We will begin achieving having at least 15 percent of our new builds meeting our universal design standards