Land donation to solve … SILENT HOUSING CRISIS
City’s generosity brings MS Qld within reach of solving housing crisis across state
JOANNA Leane and Terran Hassall are just two people who know how a block of land would give hope to so many living with MS.
BUILDING dignified lives for Toowoomba residents with multiple sclerosis is within sight.
Just one thing remains missing that will give the more than 25 known residents in the Garden City living with MS and other progressive neurological diseases a life of freedom and independence.
An 1800sq m block of land is the final piece that MSQ needs to give hope to those with PNDs through MS Queensland’s Project Dignity 120 plan. “The last article in The
Chronicle reflected the dire housing crisis people in the community are experiencing, and this demand is sadly increasing, with no housing solution except for aged care or staying in their homes, which are limiting access for basic living needs,” MS Queensland board member and Project Dignity 120 Ambassador Libby Marshall said.
The Chronicle in March revealed there were 28 known young residents living with MS or PNDs facing lonely futures.
The young and middle-age residents faced - and continue to face - the daunting prospect of moving into aged care homes because they are the only facilities equipped to deliver the high level of care their disease requires.
MSQ needed $250,000 to reach the $1 million seed funding to get the project to the next stage, and Toowoomba answered the call.
Now it needs a suitable block of land for the apartments to build brighter futures.
“We are looking for a suitable development site that is near to shops, public transport and local services so people can feel part of a community and have access to the amenities so many of us take for granted,” Mrs Marshall said.
“The MS Queensland team have been encouraged by the generous support of local families and philanthropists ensuring we have now secured the much-needed funds to build the Project Dignity 120 apartments for your community.
“However suitable land is the last piece of the jigsaw puzzle.”
Project Dignity’s funding model leverages NDIS financial support to make the apartments sustainable, thereby removing the need for ongoing philanthropy or fundraising.
But it means MS Queensland must own the land, and it won’t bear a benefactor’s name.
“We are not property developers, but we are stepping up to have a go at fixing a problem that is now at critical stages,” Ms Marshall said.
Toowoomba and District MS Support Group member and advocate Joanna Leane said the demand for age-suitable housing in the city would outstrip any supply, but any first step was needed.
Mrs Leane was diagnosed with neuromyelitis optica, a progressive neurological disease which inflames the protective coverings of her spinal and optical nerves, in 2001.
While she will not need to move into the Project Dignity estate, others will and that it was on the cusp of being built
had delivered hope to the hundreds in the support group.
“The big thing is just such a relief that even though it’s not going to have more than 12 people, it’s a start,” she said.
“We’re so close and to just know it will be happening ... we just want it to start.”
Mrs Leane, who moved from Central Queensland to Toowoomba with her husband 12
years ago for the cooler climate and better health care, said the facility would ease mental health, and guilt, concerns for residents.
“(When we moved) it was awful because as much as I hated leaving my lifestyle, I was changing everyone’s else lifestyle,” she said.
See more details online at projectdignity120.com.au