Housing project to empower vulnerable residents

IT IS the housing crisis that goes deeper than prices and land values.

The lack of age-appropriate care homes for people with multiple sclerosis and other progressive neurological diseases leaves residents with few choices but to move into agedcare homes.

MS Queensland chairman Roger Burrell said the crisis was not limited to Toowoomba but felt right across the state.

“Right now in Queensland, 1340 people with a disability under the age of 65 live permanently in residential aged care,” he said.

“Of those people, some 119 are under the age of 50.

“Sadly, and despite the collective best efforts of many people and organisations in recent years, the number of people living in inappropriate aged care has actually increased in Queensland.

“Hundreds of people are still being forced from their homes into aged care because there simply isn’t anywhere else for them to go.

“Thousands more are being cared for at home, in an environment not suited to highcare needs, because of the lack of suitable options.”

Mr Burrell said the housing supported more than those with MS and PNDs, but their families.

“Our state is in the grip of a high-needs housing crisis,” he said.

“Not just people affected by progressive neurological diseases, but their families and friends.

“In many communities, including Toowoomba and the Darling Downs region, there is a dire lack of affordable, accessible, age-appropriate and independent housing for people living with progressive neurological disease like multiple sclerosis, motor neurone disease, Huntington’s disease and Parkinson’s disease.

“Housing that empowers residents to live an independent life, providing the expert and specialist care they need, when needed.”