Townsville NDIS approved homes that are waiting unused and vacant

A frustrated owner of an NDIS approved house said he cannot get a tenant. In a housing crisis, his Bushland Beach property is among 22 vacant NDIS houses in the Townsville area.

The inside of an available NDIS approved home in Bushland Beach owned by Glenn Ewin. He said the house has never been lived in and has been vacant since September last year.

The owner of a new Bushland Beach house designed for the National Disability Insurance Scheme said he is motivated to add it to the tight rental market after it has been left vacant for more than six months.

Gold Coast based owner Glenn Ewin’s Bushland Beach house is among 22 vacant Specialist Disability Accommodation (SDA) approved houses waiting for high-needs residents eligible for accommodation funding within the Townsville area.

SDA is a scheme for a small number of NDIS participants whose disability needs cannot be met from the general housing market even with additional supports being added.

Mr Ewin contacted The Townsville Bulletin to offer his house for rent to a Townsville mother of four living in short-term crisis accommodation. because no SDA participants had registered their interest.

The rental agreement between the two is expected to be confirmed this week after Mr Ewin travels to Townsville to showcase the property.

But he said he was motivated to rent it to a family in need after there was a lack of interest from the NDIS provider’s clients or from other support groups.

The front of Glenn Ewin’s property which has been sitting vacant for more than six months.

The house was built to high physical support with large main bedrooms, with a smaller room for a live-in nurse, while everything was automated including doors and windows and was all “fully loaded ready to go”.

“I thought, ‘well, I can’t get any tenants in there besides normal tenants apparently, so I might be able to help her,” Mr Ewin said.

“The was the whole idea of the thing, was to help people in trouble.

Glenn Ewin has struggled to fill his NDIS house in Bushland Beach which has been sitting vacant since September.

“I’m in the NDIS myself, I am a participant, I have one leg and several other problems, lots of operations.

“So I thought I might build an NDIS house.”

The house was funded by selling his share of a Kindergarten and he chose the Townsville area because it had been advertised by developers as an affordable location with a good return in investment.

Trudie Cox and her partner Gordon Cahill, with daughter Kaelee, 1, are facing homelessness and are struggling to find a place to call home. Picture: Evan Morgan

A demand for housing in Townsville has been reported with a vacancy rate of under one per cent, and with Townsville’s population rising to above 200,000, policy makers scramble for solutions.

100 Defence Housing homes are also sitting empty which was labelled of “serious concern” for Federal Herbert MP Phillip Thompson, while Family Emergency Accommodation Townsville’s general manager Mandy Thompson said homelessness services were overwhelmed.

Thuringowa State MP Aaron Harper said the government was focused on its Homes for Queenslanders plan, which aimed to increase home ownership and build 53,500 new social homes by 2046.

Although Mr Harper said he did expect vacant properties to be used by their owner or a housing provider, it was also “especially important” that accessible homes were being used by people with disabilities.

An NDIA spokeswoman said the scheme was designed to provide disability related support which included SDA, which was for people who had high support needs or an “extreme functional impairment”.

The NDIS does not directly fund organisations, but what it does is provide budgets to participants who would then choose the providers that can deliver on their needs.

“The NDIA supports the connection between SDA providers and participants looking for SDA vacancies through the SDA Finder, an interactive tool created to help SDA eligible participants find accommodation to meet their needs.”

Townsville mother Trudie Cox said she had been offered the Bushland Beach house to rent from Mr Ewin, and although she waited for things to be made official it was something she needed.

The large toilet and bathroom area fitted out for disability support.

“It absolutely changes my life, it brings me back to some normality,” she said.

Her family had been staying at the Australian Red Cross Townsville Homelessness Hub in Aitkenvale for about a month while she looks for a rental.

Originally published as Townsville NDIS approved homes that are waiting unused and vacant