Here is the latest update about the disability data asset.
In September 2022 we published findings from the Pilot phase. These findings show how valuable the disability data asset will be in the future.
Snapshot of the Pilot Findings – Housing Test Case
We published our first set of insights from the Pilot phase on the National Disability Data Asset website in September 2022 and wanted to share some new things we learnt in the housing test case with you.
The housing test case used data from:
- the Australian Government
- the New South Wales Government
- the Victorian Government
- the Queensland Government
- the South Australian Government
The data used was from between January 2010 and June 2020.
- By linking data we were able to see how many people with disability from these states received housing support. We found that 788,000 people received housing support over the 10 years.
- Nearly half (48%) of public housing tenants were identified as living with a disability.
- To compare, when only state government public housing information was used, just over a quarter (27%) of tenants were identified as living with a disability.
- People with disability were eight times more likely to live in public housing than people without disability.
People with disability were also:
- Five times more likely to use homelessness services.
- Three times more likely to get Rent Assistance from the Australian Government.
- More likely to live on their own. About one in five (or 21%) of all Australians with a disability lived on their own. This is compared with less than one in 10 (or 7.6%) of Australians without a disability living on their own (Disability, Ageing and Carers, Australia: Summary of findings, 2018).
The test case also looked at homes where at least one person aged 25 to 64 years old lived with a disability.
- Of these, over half (54%) of people in public housing with a disability lived alone. This is compared to about a quarter (26%) of people living alone in public housing without a disability.
Over half (55%) of people with disability in the test case had a psychosocial disability. Of these people, over two in three (64%) lived in public housing. Nearly three quarters (73%) accessed homelessness services. This is a much higher access rate than for people without psychosocial disability.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Reference Group workshop
We held the third and final housing workshop with the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Perspectives Reference Panel. The Reference Panel provided valuable cultural insights on the findings of the housing test case. In the final workshop we:
- Talked about the methodology paper from the Housing test case. This paper written by the University of Melbourne was published on our website in December 2022.
- Had a presentation from Dr Scott Avery on current gaps in First Nations disability data and plans to overcome these. Dr Scott Avery is a Senior Lecturer at Western Sydney University.
The project team are grateful for the Reference Panel’s contributions. It is essential for First Nations people’s voices to be heard and included in the design of the disability data asset.
Community engagement findings from the Pilot
We published two community engagement reports on our website. These reports from the Pilot phase of the disability data asset project capture what people from the disability community think about the design of the asset. The reports cover views on privacy, data use and governance.
Next steps
This year we are focused on:
- Establishing a governing Council with people with disability to oversee the development of the disability data asset.
- Running a privacy impact assessment.
- Working with First Nations Australians on a disability data scoping study and making sure lessons learnt in the study are incorporated into the design of the asset.
- Providing data for reporting on Australia’s Disability Strategy. More information on the Strategy can be found on the Disability Gateway.
- Working with the disability community on key design elements. Subscribers will be notified about new information published on the website and upcoming opportunities to be involved.
We worked with Disability Representative Organisations (DROs) in 2022 to plan how we can engage with the disability community.
We will continue to build awareness about and seek input into the disability data asset over this year. We want the asset to meet the needs of people with disability, their families and carers. We will provide more information about future engagements through our website and subscription list. We will keep working with DRO members into the future.
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