Specialist disability housing provider DPN Casa Capace (casacapace.com.au) have commenced construction of an architecturally designed, resident-centric home for people with disabilities in Oran Park. DPN Casa Capace aims to scale the model to more than 700 homes in five years, in partnership with institutional investors and disability care providers. The homes, Australia-wide, will be worth around $1 billion and help meet the growing demand for Specialist Disability Accommodation (SDA) by housing 3500 residents.
DPN Casa Capace is a registered provider with the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) and part of the DPN Group, an award-winning property and financial services enterprise (dpn.com.au). Its semi-detached housing prototype, which it is launching in Sydney, is designed for two to three NDIS participants with a disability (each side), including those with complex needs, who can have each room tailored to their needs.
With each resident’s NDIS SDA payment funding their tenancy, DPN Casa Capace will partner with NDIS Supported Independent Living (SIL) care providers, who will choose suitable housing locations, and accommodate residents with disabilities and their carers, in their homes. The Northcott Society is the care provider and design collaborator for the first home, in Oran Park. Construction commenced in February and tenants are expected to move in from August. The $1.5m Oran Park home is fully funded by DPN.
Sam Khalil, DPN Founder and Managing Director, says “The private sector is best equipped to develop the housing to meet Australia’s growing demand for SDA homes. DPN is sourcing capital from institutional investors – and our supply chain has the capacity to build hundreds of homes each year, at about 70 per cent of the cost of previous Government-built homes and at a higher quality. Further cost efficiencies will be achieved as we scale. We are taking on the responsibility and cost of the homes, allowing the care providers to focus on placing tenants and providing the required support and care.
“Major institutional investors are seeing the benefit and demand for private companies in this sector. Through our advisors, we have already received strong initial interest and are in discussions with both Australian and international investors wishing to place significant capital into this sector”.
Lee Carpenter, deputy CEO at The Northcott Society, says: “We are strong champions of the move away from the institutional image of a traditional disability group home. Partnering with developers like DPN Casa Capace shows that attractive, modern developments should be what the standard should be for disability housing. As one of Australia’s largest disability service providers, including disability accommodation, we will provide support services for the customers in this exciting new development”.