More Funding for Aged Care Units

The State Government today announced over $34M in Royalties for Regions funding to construct 124 specially designed age appropriate independent living units (ILUs) across the Wheatbelt.

The project aligns with key recommendations of the Ageing in the Bush Report, which identified ways in which older people are able to live longer and healthier lives in their communities.

The ILUs will be built in 20 local government areas from Moora through to Wandering and across 5 Local Government Alliance groups.

“Many older adults are living in houses not suited to “ageing in place” and as such tend to experience a greater number of falls and accidents due to the design of their homes”, Tim Shackleton, Chair of the Wheatbelt Development Commission said.

“These ILUs will allow many of our older residents to stay in their own communities with family and friends and complements a broader solution to aged care across regional WA”.

The Program aligns with Federal Government Aged Care reform and assists to build better and more resilient communities and contribute to both the social and economic capital of the Region and State.

Construction expenditure for the project will result in flow-on effects to other economic activity and will generate significant employment in both the construction industry and the wider economy.  The Project is expected to lead to the retention of elderly residents within the project area, resulting in improving the levels of local expenditure, benefiting small businesses within the community. By enabling up to an additional 248 residents to remain in the Region, up to 320 new aged support jobs will be generated.

The funding follows an additional $19M Royalties for Regions funding for aged housing for the CEACA alliance of 11 local governments in the eastern Wheatbelt announced in July this year.

“I congratulate Wheatbelt Local Governments in working together to deliver real and sustainable solutions across the Region,” said Wheatbelt Development Commission CEO Wendy Newman.  “This is a program that is large in scale, driving innovative solutions and bringing great efficiencies in both the construction and ongoing management of these critical regional assets.”

For further information please contact the Wheatbelt Development Commission on (08) 9622 7222 or visit the Wheatbelt Development Commission website. The Wheatbelt has recently completed its first aged housing project. To find out more about this first project, please watch the Wheatbelt 4WDL Well Aged Housing Project video.