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Aged care home in Carlisle converted into 24-hour medi-hostel for homeless after $2 million retro-fitting
Jessica PageThe West Australian
Fri, 18 October 2024 2:04PM
An aged care home in Carlisle has been converted into a medi-hostel for Perth’s homeless, after a successful trial in Northbridge.
Almost 400 homeless people used the pilot program over the last two years, but the State Government said a new location was needed.
More than $2 million has been spent retro-fitting the former aged care facility on Orrong Road, where medical and support services will be available 24 hours a day with a General Practitioner on site.
“These are people who would otherwise have ended up in hospital beds,” Health Minister Amber-Jade Sanderson said.
“This is for people experiencing homelessness who have serious and chronic illness.”
There is room for 20 people.
“This is a transition arrangement for them,” Ms Sanderson said.
“It’s not permanent accommodation because this is a very resource intensive model of care.
“So it could be weeks, it could be months ... but we know when we put those wrap around services around vulnerable clients you get much better outcomes so they don’t bounce back into the system.”
Housing Minister John Carey suggested other locations were being considered to expand the service.
“We look at previous aged care accommodation, hotels and a range of other stock that currently is no longer being used that could be converted to supported accommodation,” he said.
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