The ACT government announced yesterday that work has begun on a new home for four disabled people under 65 who are living in Canberra nursing homes. The development of this service is part of the COAG $244 million Young People in Residential Aged Care program. As part of this initiative $6 million will be spent on the Young People in Aged Care program in the ACT. The house has been jointly funded by the ACT and Federal Governments. There are currently 17 disabled people under 65 in the ACT aged care facilities.
Disability Services Minister John Hargreaves is quoted:
"Now we have this facility though, we can move forward into the future and construct more as we go down the track and therefore it will give people the opportunity of choice."
What is really interesting about this quote is that the ACT government is making an ongoing commitment to this target group and building the capacity of the disability sector in the ACT to met future demand. This is in contrast with other jurisdictions that seem to see this as a once off initiative that will create alternatives to the current cohort of younger people in aged care but do not appear to be committed to developing services to meet future demand. This statement also reflects the fact that the ACT government have been actively involved in creating alternatives to young people living in nursing homes for many years.
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