June 2008

The Seniors Housing Branch have retained former Qld Shelter Branches worker and housing maven Deirdre Coughlan to steward their seniors share housing project which will assist seniors to:

·         Source and share housing amongst peers

·         Remain in the community

·         Reduce isolation

·         Pool resources to meet increasing costs of living.

Stage one of the project will involve researching existing legal frameworks including common law rights and agreements, statutory protections, and exemptions under the Residential Services and Residential Tenancies Acts.   The project will also weigh the effects of assets and income including disposal of duplicate items in share houses, implications for pension payments, rent assistance, HACC, and Medicare entitlements.

According to the Seniors Housing Branch the project has the capacity to release underutilised properties onto the private market while providing benefits of shared access to services including environmental benefits such as car pooling and shared use of Home Assist Secure and HACC services.

During stage tow of the project, the program will operate from a base at the Donald Simpson Centre in Redlands and manage ten share houses during its establishment.

The major benefit will lie in seniors’ finding common interests, sharing resources and supports and, together, remaining independent in the community longer.