Making moves in Lake Macquarie

Last week we had the pleasure of seeing our brand-new three-bedroom home in Mount Hutton be completed. Our Chief Operating Officer, Tiffany Roxburgh, also turned the first sod on a building site in Wyee, which will eventually become five new properties.

Two of our customers, Erin and Wayne, will be moving into the Mount Hutton home in September, and we expect the homes at Wyee to support up to 15 people with a disability in the area.

“It’s no secret that as a nation, we are experiencing an ongoing demand for affordable housing. The scarcity of appropriate social housing is only increasing and causing strain. Currently, there are more than 270 people with a disability in the immediate area alone looking for a suitable property that meets their needs,” said Chief Operating Officer, Tiffany Roxburgh.

We invited NBN News to come down to the site and meet our customer Erin who, after seven months of searching, has finally found her forever home.

Her mum told reporters, “It has been a nightmare. There was nothing suitable. It was really hard to find [a home] and there’s a huge need for homes like Aruma has built.”

Check out the video here.

The second customer that will be moving into the home is Wayne, and his journey to finding Aruma is a great example of what a small world we live in.

“Wayne found the vacancy through his son, who had been doing contract work on the house. He immediately thought it would be a great fit for his dad, so he enquired about vacancies,” said Customer Engagement Manager, Bobby Newton.

He continued, “It also worked out perfectly because the house is next to a shopping centre with two entrances. Wayne’s mother lives in an aged care facility on the other side of the entrance. They can meet in the shopping centre for coffee and catch-ups.”

The Mount Hutton home is owned by KBA Group, and Kingston Building built the property. In a further turn of serendipitous events, one of our Aruma community access customers, Sam, works as a Trade Assistant with Kingston.

“Sam is an awesome guy, and he is very independent. He participated in the Aruma transition to work program and got the role with Kingston through that. Seeing him be a part of the team building this house for other Aruma customers was heartwarming,” said Bobby.

You might catch Sam’s friendly face at the Maitland Hub or out in the community when he’s not working.

In Wyee, we have a lot of work to do before finding the perfect housemates.

At the site, Aruma is the landowner, developer and will be the service provider. As part of Lake Macquarie City Council’s initiative to support community housing, Stevens Group gifted Aruma five lots of land. The NSW Government’s Community Housing Innovation Fund (CHIF) is also helping bring the project to life through a $1.5 million investment.

Up to two of the homes will be Specialist Disability Accommodation (SDA), catering to customers with high support needs. The remaining three homes will provide flexible and contemporary housing options.

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