CHC partner with disability providers to deliver Kambah project Moncrieff Project
Canberra’s leading provider of community housing, CHC, has partnered with House with No Steps and Canberra-based Care Plus Services to deliver a landmark Specialist Disability Accommodation (SDA) project in Kambah. CHC announced the purchase of six residential sites in Richman Place in July with a plan to deliver affordable housing options, in line with the company’s mission. The original properties, constructed from bonded asbestos, were used for public housing and demolished prior to sale to CHC in early 2017. Increasing the company’s tenancy-base to provide greater access to affordable rental accommodation was a goal at Kambah, but with a very special client in-mind. The planned development will consist of 11 dwellings – three blocks with standalone houses, one as a standard and ancillary house, and the remaining two will be consolidated to include six small single-storey specialist disability dwellings. CHC’s General Manager, Operations, Megan Ward said, “Early in 2017, CHC received accreditation under the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) and we quickly identified some significant challenges around connecting disability products with those that need them most.” The main challenge was the requirement under the NDIS to deliver purpose-built products, which meant that speculatively building for the future was not an option. The NDIS requires registered providers of disability housing to understand their audience in detail and design a home to their specific needs to ensure products meet the market. “We had the vision, the land and the internal infrastructure to deliver specialist disability housing but we had to overcome hurdles around connecting those in need with what we were
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MASTER BUILDERS ASSOCIATION NEWS EDITION 4 2017
looking to build. The greatest challenge was a requirement under the NDIS to identify who would be living in the home once complete and how their individual needs were catered for,” said Lindsay Hunter, CHC’s General Manager, Development. Rather than undertaking client-identification with a siloapproach, CHC reached out to those who were already equipped to provide information, advice and a connection with Canberrans seeking disability housing. “It made sense to partner with organisations who have waiting lists for the type of homes we are looking to create. We currently have two major partners to deliver Kambah but are also discussing opportunities with a handful of other specialist disability organisations,” said Ms Ward. Based in Belrose in NSW and operating from Belconnen in Canberra, House with No Steps are a leading provider of disability services and exist to give those with a disability greater choice, control, and freedom. They provide the opportunity for Australians with intellectual, physical and sensory disabilities, as well as mental illness, the resources to live on their own terms. Care Plus Services is the local, homegrown ACT provider supporting adults and children with a disability. In addition to physical and intellectual disability support, Care Plus is also committed to providing a quality service to those who require complex supports such as palliative care, peg feeding, bowel care and catheter care. Both partnerships have opened the door to those seeking specialist housing and have given CHC a foundation to grow our knowledge of the disability-housing sector. “Housing is such a fundamental enabler in our society and we have made a significant impact in the past 20 years to provide access to housing for both rent and sale. While we continue
