The Waroona aged community will benefit from purpose-built, affordable accommodation with the anouncement of $1,845,000 in funding for Quambie Park by Member for the South West Colin Holt.
When completed, the Waroona Housing Options Village will comprise purpose-built accommodation units for aged people and one central Community Hub building offering health, home and social services as a primary venue for social inclusion events and activities.
The Village is expected to deliver eight full-time jobs during construction and a minimum of four during operation.
The Royalties for Regions funding has been approved for this project through the Growing Our South program.
The Peel Development Commission (PDC) has worked closely with Quambie Park in developing and advocating this project including submitting the business case to the Department of Regional Development.
PDC chairman Paul Fitzpatrick said the needs of the Waroona community and the benefits to the Peel that this project will bring were made clear during the extensive stakeholder engagement process.
“The creation of the Waroona Housing Options Village aligns with our Peel Regional Blueprint’s Strong and Resilient Communities theme and the recommendations of the Regional Development Council’s Statewide Ageing in the Bush report,” Mr Fitzpatrick said.
“It will mean more elderly Waroona residents aging in place and spending more in the local community, and it will reduce the demand for residential care and social housing and saving on health service costs as a result of less demand.”
The accommodation units will be specifically designed to ensure health and hospital equipment can be used within the home (e.g. hoists; two-person assist; ambulance stretchers; oxygen concentrators; electric beds; mobility aids etc.) and will ensure health professionals have a functional working space suitable for service delivery.
Quambie Park has been operating for 30 years and is now one of the largest employers in the Shire of Waroona with over 100 employees delivering essential services to 120 clients and residents.
In addition to the long term benefits, the Village will have secondary effects for the construction and building supply industries which in turn flows to commodity suppliers and retailers.
The Health Care and Social Assistance sector is the Peel’s fourth largest employment sector, providing 3,200 jobs in 2011 and employing about 9 per cent of the region’s workforce.
The sector experienced an annual job growth rate of 5.4 per cent over the 2006-11 period, largely driven by residential care services and social assistance services.
