A BENDIGO house may help people with disabilities being forced into ill-suited rentals or nursing homes as their parents get older.
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Three people with disabilities will be able to buy a share of a home under an Australian-first ownership model, Secure Housing Australia director Tim McDermott said.
"We have created a special type of trust-model that allows people to do that," he said.
Many people with disabilities are currently forced to find private rentals as their parents get older or die, McDermott said.
"Often, nothing's adapted for them. If you are in a rental the bathroom might not be sorted and it might not be wheelchair friendly," he said.
Mr McDermott's company has begun showing the first of what it hopes will be the first of many custom-built homes built by Metricon and using the new ownership model.
Bendigo was chosen because the National Disability Insurance Scheme has been established and because affordable land is increasing in value, Mr McDermott said.
The neighbourhood is also close to public transport and is fairly flat, he said.
One of the three bedrooms has already been snapped up by Jim and Yvonne Bowman for their 45-year-old son Aaron, who has an intellectual disability.
"We are both fairly fit and well, but in the next five years we are going to be over 80," Mr Bowman said.
"We are at a point where we have got to do something now. So this house has created an opportunity for us."
The family has been searching for the right place for a number of years, even buying a house in the hope of doing it up for Aaron and another person.
"It might have worked, but it was just too complicated," Mr Bowman said.
"All the logistics of the management of it, the insurances, even sprinklers through the house, that was going to cost another $70,000.
"In the end we just said 'no, we can't'. So we sold that house and got rid of the mortgage."
Buying into the new house will be the start of a big transition for everyone, Mr Bowman said.
"The time is never going to be right because you have got to sacrifice a lot of things from family life," he said.
It will also be important for everyone to get used to new arrangements - and that Aaron's future housemates are compatible together.
"The last thing we want is for him to go in there and finds life traumatic. That's not the way we want things to go," Mr Bowman said.
"But the house looks at the moment like it is ticking the boxes in terms of location.
"Aaron will be able to maintain his friends, program and then come home on the weekends."
For open times or to arrange a viewing, visit www.securehousing.com.au
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