Needs left unmet
19 April 2010
Karingal, on a day-to-day basis, is faced with the many difficulties arising from a lack of supported accommodation options for people with disabilities and mental illness.
As an organisation that provides services to people with disabilities, their families and carers – we see first hand the stress and anguish experienced by all involved during a long wait for permanent, supported accommodation places – especially in the instant of ageing carers.
The story of Barbara Higgens and her son Neil, who attends day programs and respite services regularly at Karingal, has appeared in both local and national media.
Barbara and her husband have been caring for Neil for more than 40 years and now in their 70s, feel they are approaching the age where they can no longer keep up with his care.
Neil has now been on a waiting list for supported accommodation for almost eight years.
This family’s story was just one of many told during the Parliamentary Inquiry into Victoria's supported-accommodation system, with 12 public hearings held across the state in 2008, including Geelong.
The two-year, cross-party inquiry received 125 submissions, one of which was from Karingal.
The findings of the Inquiry, which were handed down in January this year, found the system was both underfunded and crisis driven.
It also showed there are more than 1300 people with disabilities on a waiting list in critical need of accommodation across the State.
The findings of our own research conducted prior to the calling of the inquiry, which formed part of our submission, showed that within Karingal alone 101 people would be requiring 24-hour supported accommodation over the five years from 2008.
Fifty of these people having ageing carers.
A further 36 will or currently are in need of housing and individual support packages to enable independent living.
This is an issue I have been passionate about for many years.
It is frustrating and upsetting to see our families waiting so long for such vital assistance.
We have been proactive about lobbying the case for more funding and finding interim solutions for families who have been unable to secure long-term, permanent care for their family members.
But these carers, who have given their all looking after their son or daughter for 40 or 50 years, are being allowed to go through to their old age with no reassurance that their loved one will have secure accommodation when they can no longer provide that care.
Rest assured, we continue to be committed to working in collaboration with the government to see this very serious funding shortage improved.
Daryl Starkey
Chief Executive Officer