DISABILITY HOUSING SUPPORT
Interchange Outer East is excited to have formed a partnership with Araluen to provide housing coordination in the outer east. Araluen is a disability support service operating in Melbourne’s north east regions. As a prime part of their service Araluen’s dedicated housing support officer has been using his expertise to assist people with disabilities to investigate housing options to suit their needs.
Jenny Tomlin has now taken on the role of coordinator for our region and is based at IOE’s Yose St premises, two days per week. Jenny has an extensive history in the disability sector, including working for Uniting Harrison for the past seventeen years in the role of General Manager Disability Services. Jenny had management responsibility for the 20 week Genesis Independent Living Skills Program and the 1:1 Outreach Program, both of which focused on providing support to individuals to enhance the development of maximum independence at home and in the community. Jenny is also the co-founder and steering group member of Knox’s Eastern Disability Housing Network (EDHN) which provides valuable information on current disability housing issues to families and individuals.
With the move to the NDIS and the ability to include housing coordination and support in individual plans, there has been a rise in awareness of the need for housing options for people with disability. Jenny is working with those who want to move on to more independent lives with their housing pathways, identifying their needs, planning their path, identifying possible options, and supporting them to achieve their housing goals.
Jenny says ‘The demand is huge. It’s still early days but with an increased awareness of the need for all forms of housing options we are slowly starting to see steps towards addressing the issues. I have hope that there will be increased momentum over the next few years. In the meantime we can continue to look at what is available and help people to plan for more independent living options.’
If you would like Jenny to work with you to plan your housing path or explore housing options, or if you would like more information about housing support coordination Jenny would love to hear from you. She can be contacted at jennyT2@araluen.org
Local Hero Grant Application – support needed
Jenny has had some very welcome news. On behalf of EDHN, she applied for funding via the Westfield Local Heroes grant scheme to develop a housing resource booklet for people with a disability, plus a housing app for the phone. She recently received notification that their grant project is one of the six finalists, with the final 3 winning submissions being selected via a community voting system. If successful, receipt of the $10000 grant will enable the production of EDHN’s important housing resources.
Jenny is seeking our community’s support of their project. To vote click on the following link https://www.westfield.com.au/knox/story/56v0pT4WYUQgOUIc88Uo60/local-heroes-voting.
Voting closes July 1 2018.
