Focus on homelessness earns Government praise

The Commonwealth Government has earned praise from the industry with the announcement of a one-off funding initiative to support the development of a residential aged care facility for older, homeless people.

The government will provide an additional $3 million to Melbourne-based organisation Wintringham to build the facility in Dandenong, southeast of Melbourne.

The announcement comes just over a fortnight after the government’s groundbreaking white paper on homelessness which focused heavily on the aged care sector.

Among the changes proposed in the white paper was a move to include homelessness as a ‘special need’ groups for aged care planning and allocations.

The government also pledged to provide capital support for three more specialist aged care facilities for older, homeless people over the next four years.

“This is further evidence of the major shift in concern at the plight of the elderly homeless – a group of people that society has up until now largely overlooked,” said Wintringham’s CEO, Bryan Lipmann.

Mr Lipmann praised the Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd along with the Minister for Ageing, Justine Elliot for recognising the need in this area.

“They are both to be congratulated for demonstrating their concern for the elderly homeless and their willingness to do something about it.”
 
The announcement was also welcomed by the CEO of Aged and Community Care Victoria, Gerard Mansour.

“It is an exciting breakthrough for the Rudd Government to acknowledge industry concerns that the homeless elderly have different life experiences to that of many other older Australians,” Mr Mansour said.

“They are more likely to face mental illness or cognitive impairment, typically have more complex health needs and limited family support.”