Housing for South West seniors

This year’s Rising Stars NFP-charity winner, Access Housing Australia, has started construction at its new project at Boyanup and Dardanup, providing new and refurbished affordable homes for seniors.  

The South West Ageing in Place Housing Pilot projects are due for completion in mid to late 2017 and will deliver 14 new units at Dardanup and nine in Boyanup, where an additional three existing units will be refurbished. 

Fourteen of the 26 units will be retained by Access Housing to provide affordable rental accommodation, while 12 will be made available for sale to local seniors. Funds from the sales will go towards further senior housing projects in South West communities.

Since 2013, Access Housing has built 42 new affordable homes for seniors in the South West, including 17 in Capel and 25 in Eaton. 

Access Housing chief executive Garry Ellender said the company was committed to working with local governments to deliver more housing options for seniors in regional areas. 

“The ability to ‘age in place’ has fantastic benefits for seniors in regional areas as they can continue to enjoy their existing social, health and other amenity networks,” Mr Ellender told Business News.

“Without projects like our Boyanup and Dardanup developments, people approaching their retirement years in regional areas traditionally would have to relocate to larger towns or cities to access housing better suited to their needs.”

Access Housing has invested $1.5 million alongside the state government's $4.87 million commitment through the Royalties for Regions program.