New housing estate is a “game-changer”
A new housing estate that gives Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders an opportunity to purchase their own homes has been called a “game-changer”.
Hillside Gardens, Mount Louisa
Hillside Gardens at Mount Louisa has been developed by not-for-profit organisation Yumba-meta Limited and includes private homes, social housing rentals and the first specialist disability accommodation in the region.
The new estate brings Yumba-meta’s property portfolio to 193 tenancies.
Chairman and founder of Yumba-meta, Dr Ernest Hoolihan OAM, said the development of Hillside
Gardens was a “game-changer” for the local Indigenous community.
“Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples face multiple barriers to homeownership, including inter-generational poverty resulting from dispossession, low income and insecure employment,” he said.
“The staged development of Hillside Gardens allowed us to fund the subdivision progressively – as we sold blocks to private buyers, these funds financed the construction of the rental housing and supported three young Indigenous families on their path to homeownership.
“We’ve been able to create a well-designed village-like atmosphere in an enviable location within easy reach of amenities,” said Dr Hoolihan.
“Apart from allowing new homeowners to enter the housing market at an affordable price, tenants in the social housing and specialist disability accommodation enjoy high-quality, independent housing in a mixed community where there is no distinction between tenants and homeowners.”
Mr Hoolihan said the project addressed the inequities of Townsville’s vulnerable communities.
“This development is a vision for what an equitable and reconciled Australia looks like,” he said.
The current building projects
by Yumba-meta Limited will be completed in early 2022.
Yumba-meta, founded in 1973 by Dr Hoolihan, provides long-, medium- and shortterm accommodation and
services to disadvantaged people, particularly Townsville’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples – who have struggled to access the private rental market.