AFFORDABLE housing provider Bethanie Group has signed a new partnership with the state government to deliver 200 new community housing units for the aged.
The government appointed Bethanie Housing, one of WA’s five registered housing growth providers, to deliver 96 units in Mandurah and 104 in Dalyellup, near Bunbury.
The homes will be funded through stage 2 of the federal government’s nation-building economic stimulus package and are scheduled to be completed late in 2010.
The Mandurah dwellings will bring the total number of social housing units built using stimulus package funding in the south metropolitan area to 852.
“We have commenced preliminary work on these projects, which will be located in areas of very high demand,” Bethanie Housing chairman Wayne Belcher said in a statement released last week.
“With the added momentum of federal and state government support, we look forward to tenanting more than 200 seniors with new homes within 18 months.”
Housing Minister Troy Buswell said the project was a good example of the state government collaborating with the private sector to provide much-needed affordable housing.
“We’ve made it our goal to produce 20,000 social housing units by 2020 and this goes some way to achieving that,” Mr Buswell said.
“One of the strategies recommended by the Social Housing Taskforce to better meet the housing needs of the community was more collaboration between government and the private sector.
“It’s a way of ensuring we get the best value for money for taxpayers, and the best facilities for those in need.
“Just as importantly, it’s a boost for local builders, generating 40 jobs onsite during construction, and 25 for apprentices or trainees.”
Bethanie Housing was established in 2008 as a separate subsidiary of The Bethanie Group to progress the organisation’s commitment to the provision of community housing.
