Southern Cross Care (NSW and ACT) chief executive Monique Reynolds.
Photo by
Lua Ikenasio
Southern Cross Care (NSW and ACT) has vowed to return to Moama with another plan that meets the community’s need for affordable accommodation for the elderly.
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Following a community meeting on Monday evening, the aged care provider decided to withdraw its development application to set up a boarding house in Moama.
The boarding house was proposed to be a low-care model that would provide affordable accommodation and personal assistance and clinical care to the elderly and aged frail using minimal staff.
The development aimed to alleviate housing pressures faced by the elderly, through creating additional accommodation for those who needed it and allowing residents the option to downsize, freeing up accommodation for others.
Southern Cross Care (NSW and ACT) chief executive Monique Reynolds said that while the boarding house option was not accepted by the community, the aged care service would remain committed to Moama.
“We want to look at solutions that support older people, so we remain committed to this town, and we’ve done so for the past two years trying to work on solutions,” she said.
“From our perspective, when we looked at it, we had really positive feedback and then we also had people who were confused about what it all meant.
“Ultimately for me, we still feel feel there’s a need in this community. It’s just not going to be a boarding house.”
Ms Reynolds added that moving forward, Southern Cross Care (NSW and ACT) would work alongside the community to achieve a solution that everyone was happy with.
“The boarding house pathway is not the pathway for this community, that’s the reality, and we’ve got a couple of options that will go through the proper co-design process,” she said.
“The step forward is to work together and come up with a solution that makes sense.
“We’ll engage (the community) in various focus groups and get their feedback around our purpose.
“Our purpose is still clear — we want to make sure that we partner with the community to achieve a good outcome for everybody.”
Moama residents gathered at the Moama Football Netball Club pavilion to attend the meeting.
Photo by
Lua Ikenasio
During the community meeting, Moama residents voiced many concerns, especially around the fear of 50 unknown residents moving into the community and the ambiguity of the development application.
While many of the residents were against the idea of a boarding house, the majority were agreed that there was a definite need for accommodation for the elderly.
Murray River Council chief executive Stacy Williams said council would continue to explore options for suitable accommodation.
“We’ll work together with Southern Cross Care to look for a solution that meets our community’s needs,” she said.
“Southern Cross Care have talked about need tonight, and that doesn’t disappear after tonight, that need is still there and so part of what we want to see is good service provision to meet that need, and Southern Cross Care is here to partner in that.”
Ms Williams added that affordable and social housing was an important aspect of Moama’s housing outlook.
“What’s important in Moama is that housing mix and making sure that we’ve got housing that’s for rental, affordable, all the way up to your lifestyle developments that we see as part of our general landscape,” she said.
“That mix is really important and the affordable and social housing component is an important ingredient in meeting all of that need that we saw tonight.”
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