VCOSS

Housing

Victorian Universal Housing Alliance

The Victorian Universal Housing Alliance (VUHA) is committed to increasing the stock of universally accessible housing.

VUHA is auspiced by VCOSS, the Victorian Local Governance Association (VLGA), Council on the Ageing (COTA), the Chronic Illness Alliance and the Housing Resource and Support Service.

VUHA aims to achieve state regulation to mandate housing be built to be universally accessible.

Recent publications

• July 2008, VUHA Platform
• March 2010, VCOSS submission to the Visitable and Adaptable Housing Features Regulatory Impact Statement process. Submission from VUHA
• Universal Housing, Universal Benefits

Recent events

On 5 March 2009, VUHA held a forum on the costs and benefits of universal housing in conjunction with the Victorian Local Governance Association.

Speakers included:

• Laurence Joseph, Gandel Charitable Trust
• John Durell, JG King Homes
• Steven Baxas and Gary Spivak, Port Phillip City Council, and
• Jim Connor, Baby Boomers and Beyond

VUHA was launched on 29 July 2008 by Cath Smith, VCOSS CEO.

Speakers at the launch included: Dr Helen Szoke, Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commission; Dr Amanda Hordern, Cancer Council of Victoria; Ralph Edwards, CFMEU, and Debra Dean, a local community representative and advocate. Read Debra Dean’s speech from the launch.

Cath Smith (VCOSS) at launch

VUHA launch audience

VCOSS invites organisations who support VUHA’s objectives to join the Alliance and add their logo to the Platform.

Current Alliance members are:

• Access for All Alliance
• Action for Community Living
• Aids and Equipment Action Alliance
• Alcohol Related Brian Injury Australia Services (arbias)
• Archicentre
• Association for Children with a Disability
• Australian Manufacturing Workers Union (AMWU)
• Australian New Zealand Association of Neurologists
• Australian Vietnamese Women's Welfare Association
• Beverley Garlick Architects
• Borderlands Cooperative
• Blind Citizens Australia
• Brotherhood of St Laurence
• Cancer Council of Victoria
• Catholic Social Services Victoria
• Chronic Illness Alliance
• City of Melbourne
• City of Port Phillip
• City of Yarra
• Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union
• Council of Single Mothers and their Children
• Council on the Ageing
• Council to Homeless Persons
• Dingley Village Community Advice Bureau
• Ethnic Communities Council of Victoria
• Housing for the Aged Action Group
• Housing Resource and Support Service
• ICLEI Oceania - Local Governments for Sustainability
• Inner South Community Health Centre
• Latrobe City Council
• Mallee Accommodation and Support Program
• Medical Scientists Association
• Melbourne Affordable Housing
• Melbourne CityMission
• Mind (formerly Richmond Fellowship)
• Moreland City Council
• MS Society of NSW/Victoria
• National Disability Services Victoria
• North Yarra Community Health Centre
• Occupational Therapists Association of Victoria/Australia
• Paraquad
• People with Disabilities Australia
• Port Phillip Housing Association
• Prahran Mission
• Planning Institute of Victoria
• Royal Australian Institute of Architects Victoria
• Rural Housing Network
• Shire of Yarra Ranges
• Summer Foundation
• Sunraysia Residential Services
• Surf Coast Shire Council
• Tenants Union of Victoria
• Trades Hall Council
• Travellers Aid Society of Victoria
• UnitingCare Victoria and Tasmania
• Victorian Alcohol and Drug Association
• Victorian Council of Churches
• Victorian Council of Social Service
• Victorian Local Governance Association
• Victorian Psychologists Association
• Victorian Women with Disability Network
• Vision Australia
• Women's Housing Ltd
• Wyndham City Council
• Young People In Nursing Homes Alliance (YPINH)

To join the Alliance or for more information contact David Brant, Executive Director, Victorian Universal Housing Alliance on 0435464298