Partial support from ministry for petition

DUNEDIN man Joshua Perry’s petition to improve disabled people’s access to housing modifications has received partial support from the Ministry of Health, but it has come out against one of his main proposals.

Mr Perry, who has cerebral palsy, gave evidence in support of his petition to Parliament’s health select committee last week, told of the 13step, 10month long process he had gone through so far to have his flat adapted to make it more usable for himself and his caregivers.

Mr Perry asked for a system he called ‘‘convoluted and slow’’ to be overhauled, and for the funding cap on modifications to be reviewed.

On Parliament’s website, the ministry said it would introduce monitoring of applications that have not been completed within six months from the date the service request was submitted.

‘‘Additionally, the ministry will work with housing assessors and its providers to ensure disabled people are kept up to date regarding the progress of their housing modification.’’

A prototype disability support system had recently been developed, and the ministry suggested new processes for managing housing modifications might ensue from that.

However, the ministry also said it had no plans to lift the $15,334 funding cap for access modification funding.

‘‘The ministry considers that removing the access threshold would result in requests for high cost modifications such as through floor lifts,’’ ministry deputy director general disability Adri Isbister said.

‘‘Funding such high cost solutions is not the best use of available resources and would result in fewer disabled people receiving funding within the allocated resources.’’

Mr Perry told MPs that one person who signed his petition has told him they had been waiting 13 years for their case to be resolved.

‘‘My grandma, who wanted a rail to keep her safe going down the steps, was told it would be five months before she could speak to the assessor, so she brought it herself.

‘‘How many others do this out of frustration?’’ As well as signatories to his petition, Mr Perry had received messages through social media from people affected by what he termed ‘‘the inefficient housing modification process’’.

‘‘I would like to see the system speed up and take no longer than six months from the beginning of the process to the end.

‘‘I believe that disabled people have had enough of the current system.’’

The health select committee is still hearing submissions on Mr Perry’s petition and is yet to report back to Parliament.