The Sanctuary
Work is underway on a new, five villa, Specialist Disability Accommodation (SDA) located on the Central Coast suburb of Toukley. The architecturally designed one-bedroom villas will be home to five residents with high physical support needs.
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The project, named Sanctuary, is being developed by Whitestone Group. The property will be managed by disability and community housing provider Home in Place, with Catholic Care Broken Bay available to provide supported independent living services (SIL) for those who do not already have a SIL provider. There will be two on-site overnight assistance rooms as well as a communal vegetable garden and electric vehicle charging station on the 700 sq metre site.
Whitestone director Julian Carlo-Stella joined Home in Place executive manager specialist services Larissa Bridge and Catholic Care Broken Bay executive director Tim Curran this month to see completion of the framing. Construction is expected to be complete by July.
Mr Carlo-Stella said the project is one of four SDA projects Whitestone has in its pipeline in partnership with Home in Place. The others are in Kariong on the Central Coast, Charlestown in the Hunter region and in the Sydney suburb of Penrith.
“There is an undersupply of high-quality SDA housing on the Central Coast that is tailored to the needs of individuals,” Mr Carlo-Stella said.
“We like to build high end housing in nice neighbourhoods that looks and feels great. At Sanctuary we are using more expensive artificial turf, rather than grass, because it will make the yard spaces more accessible and usable for residents in wheelchairs.”
He will be actively involved in the management of the property for years to come. Whitestone approached Home in Place as a partner because of its experience in SDA and community housing.
“I’d heard lots of good things about Home in Place in the industry and I like their focus on helping their residents and tenants.”
Ms Bridge said Home in Place is working to provide people with a range of specialist disability housing that meets their needs, in line with the important NDIS principle of choice and control for participants. She said Sanctuary is nestled between the beach and lake and is in walking distance to shops, medical facilities, public transport and recreational facilities.
“It is important for housing for people with a disability to be close to services and amenities, not in isolated fringes of towns and cities,” Ms Bridge said.
“Expressions of interest are now open for people with high physical support needs looking for a forever home on the Central Coast. The Home in Place website – www.homeinplace.org/sda-vacancies – has details for this property and other housing options.
“To live in an SDA home people need SDA under Capital Supports in their National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) plan. That can take some time, so we encourage people to talk to their support workers about starting the process.”
SDA homes give people the opportunity to live more independently in a highly supported way. They are built to special regulated standards and must be registered with the NDIS.
Mr Curran said the role of a SIL is to provide residents with support and supervision around the typical activities of daily living including personal care, medication support and cleaning.
“We give residents enough support to allow them to look after themselves and access all the other things they want to do as they get out and about in their new community,” Mr Curran said.
Whitestone Group is a Sydney based property development and investment firm that specialises in developing high-quality SDA, childcare and healthcare assets.
Home in Place is a NSW based community housing provider which manages more than 7,000 social, affordable and disability housing properties in NSW, Queensland and Victoria. It is a member of the SDA Alliance and a registered SDA provider with the NDIS for NSW and other states and territories.
