Metricon is helping pave the way to home-ownership for Australians living with disability

Metricon is pleased to announce a collaboration with Secure Housing Australia (SHA) to build the disability housing and support company’s first shared ownership home in Bendigo in regional Victoria.

Committed to the belief that all Australian’s should love where they live, Metricon has established its Alternative Housing division - a dedicated business arm that focusses entirely on building affordable and accessible social housing Australia-wide.

Teaming up with SHA, a specialist organisation, providing high-quality housing and support for people with a disability living independently in the community, is a logical and complementary partnership for Metricon.

“Metricon is delighted to be able to share its building expertise to help SHA pioneer the shared homeownership model for Australians living with a disability,” Sam Gribble, Metricon’s General Manager of Alternative Housing, said.

“We understand how important it is that everyone has access to a safe and secure home they can call their own. Sadly, this is harder to achieve for some Australians, particularly for the one in five of us who live with a disability."

Metricon’s expertise lies in providing high-quality homes that are good value for money and it’s been a privilege to transfer this knowledge to tailoring homes that work for residents with disability.

Metricon built the four-bedroom, all-ensuite SHA display home in White Hills, Bendigo. SHA has furnished the home and will on-sell it to customers living with disability in a three-way split. Each owner invests in a 1/3 share and they live together as housemates. That leaves a spare bedroom for carers and visiting relatives to stay over.

Tim McDermott, co-owner of SHA, says the model is changing lives for the better. It offers an affordable, long-term solution for people with disability to access the housing market in a safe and secure way.

‘’Most disability accommodation is classified as Specialist Disability Accommodation and funding is only approved for 6% of NDIS Participants,” Tim said. “Our housing model will hopefully assist the other 94% of NDIS participants who don't receive that specific funding.’’ SHA hopes that with help from Metricon, its shared housing scheme will see more people living with disability achieving their dream of living independently. It is their intention to deliver many more shared ownership homes across the state.

Sam says this is something we can all be proud of. “It’s a great project to be involved in. We are helping SHA to help more Australians living with disability, by building a high-quality product that meets their needs and offers an affordable, safe and secure home.”