Well-meaning adaptable housing legislation in Canberra a "failure"

David Shearer has been working with Independent Property Group for 28 years. As director of project planning he specialises in the planning and design of new apartment and townhouse developments.

TT: Hi David, we meet again. I must say today’s topic has caught me off guard. I had never considered well-meaning adaptable housing legislation as a failure. I had always thought such a considered policy would have found its mark.

DS: Interesting, isn’t it? Like you, I had considered the application of this planning policy as good strategic planning – until I really thought about it, then the stats confirmed it as not just a failure, but an abysmal waste of resources that fails to find its target.

TT: You mean like Mr Trump’s fake news?

DS: Well, yes. Except this policy was designed and implemented with the best social intentions, (rather than an ill-considered rant on Twitter) to meet the needs of people who need it, yet its failure is nonetheless spectacular.

TT: So in talking about accessible housing we are looking at legislation or standards designed to accommodate people with accessibility or mobility issues, including those in wheelchairs?

DS: Yes, we are.

TT: … and it’s a total failure?

DS: In townhouses and apartments, it’s close to a 100 per cent fail! I wish it wasn’t and I hope that after reading this article a few hundred people contact me to say I am wrong, but I expect I won’t hear from more than a handful of people that actually have benefited from this policy.

TT: So please explain; where has the accessible housing policy failed, and how are you so sure it has missed its target?

DS: Let’s consider that current planning policy enforces 10 per cent of all new apartment and townhouses within developments throughout Canberra to be designed and provisioned as accessible housing, and over 30,000 new apartments and townhouses have been built during this time, and that over just the last 15 years I have been involved with the planning or design or marketing of over 15,000 apartments and townhouses we at Independent have sold, so therefore we have sold approximately 1500 accessible designed apartments.

TT: Well, that sounds promising – 1500 apartments and townhouses designed to suit wheelchair access?

DS: Sure, 1500 accessible apartments sound promising, except I am not aware of an accessible apartment we have sold that was actually adapted or configured to suit the needs of someone with accessibility or mobility issues who actually needs it and, further to this, I have discussed this with the principals of other agencies that sell what Independent Property Group don’t sell, and their experiences are very comparable.

TT: But not one adapted, really? From 1500 apartments!

DS: Let’s see if we get much response from people who have purchased an accessible apartment. I have a few ideas how, with the help of people involved with the provision of adapted housing, we can redesign this policy to find its target market far more effectively. Maybe we can discuss this next week.

TT: Sure, until next week.

Tony Trobe is director of the local practice TT Architecture. Is there a planning or design issue in Canberra you’d like to discuss? Email tonytrobe@ttarchitecture.com.au.