The Schrinner Council’s wholly owned subsidiary, City of Brisbane Investment Corporation has partnered with Youngcare to deliver housing for young residents living with disabilities.
Seven modern and accessible units in East Brisbane have been built to provide safe and secure accommodation for people with a disability.
With the residential vacancy rate in Brisbane around 1 per cent, people with disabilities often find it more challenging to find suitable accommodation that meets their needs.
Many of these young people are living with parents well into adulthood or are being left behind in aged care, hospital rooms and rehabilitation centres due to a shortage of appropriate disability accommodation.
This is the latest in a series of initiatives introduced by the Schrinner Council to help tackle the housing crisis, including:
- Under the Housing Supply Incentive, infrastructure charge will be waived to help incentivise the construction of new homes, including 100% permanent and ongoing infrastructure charge reduction for registered community housing providers.
- Removing mandatory car parking requirements in appropriate locations to bring down the cost of new homes under the Inner-City Affordability Initiative.
- Identifying under-utilised industrial and commercial properties that can be transformed into housing and mixed-use precincts through the Suburban Renewal Precincts program.
- Supporting the creation of up to 10,000 new homes through the Kurilpa Sustainable Growth Precinct Plan in an area well-serviced by public transport and close to amenities.
- Establishing a dedicated build-to-rent assessment unit to fast-track approvals in Council under the Housing Supply Action Plan.
- Establishing a taskforce to review short-stay accommodation in Brisbane and increasing rates for these properties to return more homes to the long-term rental market.
The East Brisbane units are fully accessible and have been equipped with wider entries and hallways, automated doors, windows, and blinds, sliding wardrobes and storage facilities, and appliances built-in at a wheelchair-accessible height.
The ceilings have also been engineered for the installation of hoists, if required by the tenants.
The East Brisbane site was chosen due to its central location and easy accessibility to public transport, support services and amenities.
The one- and two-bedroom units can be retrofitted to suit the tenants’ individual needs and will be move-in ready from Thursday 13 June 2024.
Prospective tenants are encouraged to contact Youngcare or register their interest via Youngcare’s website.
Quotes attributable to Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner:
“Brisbane is one of the fastest-growing capital cities in Australia and we’re doing what we can to help deliver new homes sooner to protect our incredible lifestyle.
Delivering specialist accommodation of this nature would usually sit with other levels of government, but we realised there was potential here and took action.
This land was left over after Council widened Lytton Road and I’m proud we were able to build homes, through our subsidiary CBIC, to give the land an important and meaningful future.
It’s heartbreaking to hear there are young adults with disabilities in our community that feel they’re missing out, lacking freedom and independence.
Brisbane has an incredible lifestyle and I want absolutely everyone to be able to experience it.”
Quotes attributable to CBIC’s Head of Real Estate Bianca Harris:
“CBIC is a property investment corporation generating financial returns for the benefit of the people of Brisbane through its ownership by Brisbane City Council.
Through our partnership with Youngcare, who are the industry pioneers of Specialist Disability Accommodation, CBIC saw an excellent socially responsible investment opportunity, which is a win-win.”
Quotes attributable to Young Care General Manager of Development Tim Lambert:
“Youngcare housing makes a massive difference to the lives of our young people who face disability challenges, but still want the same choices and freedoms of their peers.
We are very excited for these nine new residents to move into their new homes and continue their journeys of independence, like young people everywhere are so keen to do.
We pride ourselves on providing dynamic housing solutions for young people with high physical support needs that enable them to feel at home in their community.”
Quotes attributable to Mikaela Norris – Mikaela lives with Spinal Muscular Atrophy Type Two and moved into Youngcare’s Specialist Disability Accommodation in Chermside.
“Before I moved into independent living, my activities were very limited and so were my supports.
Now that I’ve settled into a place of my own, I feel as though I have more freedom and choice in my daily life.
I hope the residents of east Brisbane have a similar experience to mine!”
