Source: The Hobart Mercury [LETTERS TO THE EDITOR]

LIKE most Tasmanians, I welcome the Premier's announcement of $60 million to public housing but I would like to add a plea that a proportion of this funding is allocated to innovative, appropriate housing for people with acquired disabilities.

People with moderate to high support needs never make it to the Category 1 list for public housing because their needs ensure that someone supplies a "roof over their heads" but this is generally inappropriate, either back in the family home with ageing parents (whose lives are also adversely affected) or into an aged care nursing home (with people who are 35 to 60 years older than they are).

In its Disability Framework for Action, the Government espouses that: "Appropriate housing is an important factor in the ability to live independently and is critical to health, well-being and overall quality of life."

Yet, with only two more years of this framework to run, the very limited additional housing offered for this group of people has been more of the same ... a four-bedroom group home, erected on any available piece of land, with residents selected in response to crisis situations (rather than compatibility or choice).

Please Premier, take this opportunity to "engage in collaborative planning" to "target those in greatest need, particularly those with severe or profound disabilities". You can make a difference.

Sue Hodgson

Blackmans Bay