Last week the SEMZ team were thrilled to celebrate the official opening of Jesuit Social Services’ brand-new Perry House – a 24-hour supported accommodation program in Reservoir.
Perry House provides a completely unique model of supported housing to young people aged 17–25 years living with an intellectual disability who are exiting the justice system and at risk of homelessness.
As some of the most disadvantaged members of our community, these young people face a range of incredibly complex co-occurring and interrelated issues. Through a trauma-informed lens, the program provides a home for these young people for up to 24 months, to support them in implementing their NDIS plans. The outcome is a significant reduction in their risk of recidivism and homelessness, developing essential independent living skills to live autonomously in the community.
The Perry House project began for the SEMZ team over four years ago. Working pro-bono to support our community partner Jesuit Social Services, we set out to help seek a solution for their critical need to expand the Perry House Offering.
SEMZ director Ken Santamaria has been involved with this project from the beginning.
“It’s been a privilege for us at SEMZ to mobilise the Jesuit Social Services vision for Perry House, establishing a team of project stakeholders with JCB – Concept Design Architect, WT Partnership – Quantity Surveyors, Ratio Consultants – Town Planners and Modscape – Modular delivery partner. Together with SEMZ, this team enabled the preparation of a substantial and significant funding application, working pro bono to secure the project funding and establish the project.”
Over the course of twelve months, the SEMZ team investigated every possible funding avenue until the Homes Victoria Youth Housing Capital Grants Program was initiated – resulting in a grant of over $4 Million to bring plans to fruition.
The Youth Housing Capital Grant funding application was over subscribed by 400%. The award of the funding grant was a testament to the quality of the submission and the proposed project team, and a credit to Jesuit Social Services for having the foresight to pull together a project concept package to seek funding.
Having overseen the construction phase of Perry House, Wayne Alford, SEMZ Project Director is proud of the result.
“Perry House is a critical service and it has been extremely fulfilling to watch this building develop from a concept, through fabrication in the Modscape factory, and then delivery and installation on site. The modular approach has been critical to reducing the down time for this facility, with Modscape delivering an excellent quality of the finished facility. The young people who occupy the house will see a significant improvement from the previous Perry House.”
The outcome is everything SEMZ had hoped for. We are optimistic that the success of the project will set the precedent to roll out further facilities for this hugely under-resourced need.
Congratulation to the dedicated and talented team at Jesuit Social Services, we’re thrilled to have supported you alongside JCB, Ratio, WT and Modscape in delivering this life changing project.