Early last year, we announced a new housing project to review and improve the quality of our homes and make them more comfortable for residents. With the impacts of COVID and continued restrictions and lockdowns, some of this work was delayed. However, we are pleased to report that the project has started to move significantly, with the appointment of Cara Besser as the OC Connections Project Lead for the housing project in November last year.
Cara’s role will be the internal project manager and she will be consulting with residents and families about the project.
This very exciting five year project will see OC Connections build four new homes with two built in the City of Casey, and a further two built across the Cities of Monash and Glen Eira.
Four of our existing homes will also be refurbished. Minor refurbishments will be carried out in two of our homes to meet the revised guidelines for Specialist Disability Accommodation. These guidelines were released after these lovely new homes were designed and built. To meet the specifications a small amount of minor work is required.
Two of our older homes will have significant refurbishments in 2023.
The refurbishments of the OC Connections owned homes will enable people to have a better quality home and the new homes will provide additional high quality homes for people to live in.
We will atempt to minimise disrupton to OC Connections residents as much as possible, however OCC residents and their families will be notified of any changes and will be kept updated as the project progresses.
From late February to early April 2022, we will be undertaking the minor works to our two existing homes – incorporating new kitchenettes for a couple of the units and creating new entry points. For the duration of these works residents and their support staff will be temporarily relocated to suitable accommodation in serviced apartments or similar. The accommodation options will be chosen in consultation with staff and residents and will have little to no disruption to the day programs and activities of participants.
We are grateful for the support of our partners and community in donating funds to assist with this project, especially The Metropolitan Golf Club and Dandenong Christmas Tree Farm, who continue to raise funds in support of our projects and programs, despite the challenges of lockdown.
If you would like to help us continue to build and refurbish homes to ensure that people with disabilitiy have a home that they can live well in with people they like, you can donate at the link below.
Enquiries regarding this project can be directed to:
Cara Besser, Project Lead Housing
(Monday or Tuesday)
cbesser@occonnections.org
