BAYSIDE Council will not stop its controversial plan to kick out elderly and disabled residents from their independent living units.

A proposal at last night’s council meeting to rescind a decision to pull out from providing accommodation at the 18 Sandringham and Beaumaris units failed.

Instead, the council wants someone else to look after the units.

Cr James Long asked councillors to reconsider their decision made last year to evict residents from the two council-owned sites, but lost his motion.

Cr Clifford Hayes was the only other councillor to vote to stop the plan, with the remaining five councillors against.

Cr Simon Russell said councils should not be involved in social housing, as community housing associations were better suited.

He moved a motion asking to tender the units out, but a similar process in 2008 failed.

If no-one opts to takes over their running, the residents will be kicked out by June next year.

Around 1500 people, including 19 former mayors, have blasted the council for being heartless.

Residents have vowed to fight on, and are planning campaigns against councillors who voted to move them out.

Source A: Bayside Leader Article – Plan to Evict Elderly goes ahead

Source B: Bayside Leader Article – Elderly to Intensify Unit Fight

The proposed timetable for this tender process is:

• Specification Development Period – 22 March to 27 April 2012
• Tender Advertised – Saturday 28 April 2012
• Close of Tenders – Tuesday 19 June 2012
• Tender Evaluation Period – 19 June to 3 August
• Tender Evaluation Report Presented to Council Meeting – Tuesday 14 august 2012

To assist Council in maintaining strict probity protocols during the tender process, prospective tender respondents should not make contact with Councillors or Council Officers at any stage. All enquiries must be directed via Council’s e-tendering system on-line forum and only after the release of the tender specification documents.

Prospective tender respondents should note that the Tender Specification documents will be publically available from Monday 30 April, via Council’s e-tendering system .

Respondents must register with Council’s e-tendering system to enable downloading of tender documents.
Prospective tender respondents click on the “Registration” tab at the top of that internet page and enter the requested details.
Tender respondents who register with Council’s e-tendering system will then receive confirmation of registration by email.

EMBATTLED Bayside residents are continuing their fight against council’s decision to close 18 independent living units in Beaumaris and Sandringham.

Sixteen former mayors of Bayside Council and its predecessor, Sandringham Council, attended the February council meeting as a show of solidarity.

They and three other former mayors had previously written to council reminding them that the units had been built with community and government funds and requesting the decision to close them be reconsidered.

A number of public questions were submitted at the meeting from supporters of the residents, including a request from ex-mayor David Cockburn about costs of the refurbishment of two of the four units that are currently vacant.

Mr Cockburn also demanded to know why the units were vacant when there were an estimated 40,000 people on public housing waiting lists.

The meeting was told the refurbishment figure totalled $167,700 over the past three financial years, and that the units were vacant as a result of council’s decision not to continue as an accommodation provider.

Shanny Gordon from Housing for the Aged Action Group said it was unconscionable to have good quality public housing vacant when shortages were so great.

“Once the decision was made to vacate the units, council chose not to put anyone else in there,” she said.

“To have refurbished units sitting empty is wrong.

“Our group would have people in there tomorrow.”

Ms Gordon said there had been significant community backing for the tenants. More than 150 people attended a recent barbecue at one of the sites destined for closure.

She remained hopeful there would be a change of heart by Bayside councillors.

“We’re hoping to see some action on this at the next meeting of council,” she said.

Source: The Senior – Mayors’ Show of Solidarity

Below, is the Channel Seven News Report of the event:

Former Bayside Mayor Graeme Disney. Picture: Martin Reddy

NINETEEN former Bayside mayors have formed an alliance to blast the current council’s decision to close its independent living units

In a letter the ex-mayors have slammed the council for last year ordering the eviction of elderly and disabled residents from theirSandringhamand Beaumaris homes.

Graeme Disney said when the homes were constructed in the 1970s, the community was of the belief they would remain.

“There was a lot of resident input into building these units,” he said.

“We are distressed to see people like Sister Pat (Timoney) so traumatised.

“This sort of uprooting shouldn’t be happening.”

He said the council could have consulted more widely before making any decision, and instead of closing the units should look into allowing a community body to take over.

Current councillor James Long said Bayside took the views of former mayors seriously.

“Perhaps council can work on its values,” Cr Long said.

“I, for one, have an open mind.

“The elders of the community have given us a warning signal, and we should not ignore it.”

The closure can potentially be reversed by a councillor putting forward a motion to rescind the original decision, made behind closed doors in July.

A report will be discussed at the April council meeting.

Residents against the eviction are hosting a barbecue at the units in Dalgetty Rd, Beaumaris on February 25 from 11.30am.

Source:  http://bayside-leader.whereilive.com.au/news/story/eviction-of-bayside-elderly-slammed/

BAYSIDE Council had secret plans to sell its soon-to-be closed independent living units back in 2008.

Last year council said it would eject residents from 18 units in Bay Rd, Sandringham, and Dalgetty and Haldane roads, Beaumaris, because of rising maintenance costs.

The Bayside Leader broke the story of the eviction of 16 elderly and disabled tenants on October 11 last year.

Both then mayor Alex del Porto and chief executive Adrian Robb denied they had plans to sell the land.

But council documents seen by the Leader state the Beaumaris units were offered to a Port Phillip housing association more than three years ago, in a then-secret council meeting on October 21, 2008.

Current valuations seen by the Leader state the combined Beaumaris block is worth around $2 million, and the Sandringham site around $2.5 million.

A resident, Sister Patrice Timoney, said she always knew the real reason for the eviction was a cash grab.

“There is no doubt in my mind they want us out to sell the land,” she said.

Sally Cockburn, a vocal critic of the plan to shut the sites, said the council must be held to account for its poor decision-making.

Bayside community services director Kaylene Conrick said a previous council considered selling the Beaumaris block as part of a State Government plan to give housing associations money to buy properties.

But after 18 months of negotiations, the proposition was not considered viable.

She said the Sandringham independent living units had not been part of it.

The current council “has not discussed the future use of the sites”, she said.

Source: Bayside Leader Article

Impact Just Awful – Sister Pat Timoney

ELDERLY tenants of 18 Sandringham and Beaumaris independent living units set for closure by Bayside Council in June next year, are seething.

The council’s decision follows a review of the dwellings inHaldane St, Beaumaris, andSandringham Rd,Sandringham, which it has managed for the past 40 years.

It says it has no funding options to meet costs for renovation over the next three to five years, and without renova­tions the units will not meet required standards for the occupants’ long term needs.

One of 14 tenants currently living in the units, Sister Pat Timoney, is a 70- year-old amputee. She said there was a lot of anger among the group and she was appalled at the way the council had acted.

“It’s just awful the impact this deci­sion has had on people’s lives,” she said.

“When I moved here two years ago, I understood it would be for as long as I wanted.

“Since hearing about the closure, one man had a heart attack, and anoth­er lady is in complete denial.

“The council says it has carried out a review, but they haven’t shown it to the tenants.”

The group has received support from high profile media health commentator GP Dr Sally Cockburn (also known as Dr Feelgood) whose family’s associa­tion with Bayside goes back many years.

Her father was a former mayor.

Dr Cockburn said there had been no community consultation on the matter. “Meetings were held in secret about this, because council didn’t want to traumatise the tenants,” she said.

“My main concern is the mental health of these people. Relocating is one of the most stressful things an older person can endure.

“I knew all the players who built these units, and won’t let their legacy suffer. They were built by forward-thinking councillors to provide social housing for the elderly.

“There’s always been a strong social conscience in Bayside, but where’s the heart gone in council? They’re thinking only of finances.”

Sister Pat and others also suspect it’s about a council land-grab.

Local resident Rod Binnington point­ed to the council’s announcement in October last year about the closure of the child care centre adjacent to theSandringhamunits.

“The units are on a prime site,” he said. “They’re all solid and in pretty good nick, but if they and the child care centre next door were razed, it would create a huge lot of prime land right near Sandringham Station.”

In November the council called for expressions of interest to operate theSandringham Stchild care centre, and another one inHampton, until the end of 2013, when they are earmarked for closure.

Mayor Louise Cooper-Shaw said the council was committed to exploring ideas that might see the centres stay open beyond 2013.

Council said it had not decided the fate of the independent living units, citing the relocation of tenants as its priority. It says it will support all tenants as much as they need to find alternative accommodation

But Dr Cockburn, a member of the Bayside Community Forum on Ageing in Place, is skeptical of council’s ability to manage the situation.

She said the forum was never told about the closure of the units.

“This is a slap in the face for seniors,” she said. “It shows no understanding of ageing in place.

“If council thinks the upkeep and management of the units is too much, there are social housing groups who could take that role over from them.

“I’m pursuing this with them. There were councillors who didn’t even realise that was an option.”

For its part, council remains adamant the units will close, and has a team of case workers on call to tenants. Meetings started late last year.

Sister Pat remains unimpressed.

“I told them to get out at one stage,” she said. “I told them I didn’t want their pseudo-sympathetic faces in my house.

“They’ve shown one of the other tenants an alternative, a small bedsit, and he hated it.”

Source: http://specialpubs.fairfaxregional.com.au/australiansenior/seniorvic/vicfeb2012/

Sister Pat Timoney, centre, with Dr Sally Cockburn, right, and residents Alwyn and Ray. Photo: Angela Wylie

SHE may have lost her right leg, but Sister Pat Timoney is prepared to stand her ground. The feisty one-legged nun has joined forces with high profile GP Sally Cockburn, best known as 3AW’s broadcaster Dr Feelgood, to save 18 units for the elderly that Bayside Council plans to shut down.

The council says they will close the units they’ve managed for the past 40 years, on two sites inSandringhamand Beaumaris, because they are too expensive to maintain. But despite assurances from the council that new homes will be found for all 16 remaining residents within the next 20 months, the nun and the doctor are determined to fight the decision – through VCAT and the courts if necessary.

”It’s a furphy to say the units are decaying,” said Sister Pat, who moved into the Sandringham units 18 months ago after her amputation. The unit was then customised for her wheelchair.

”They send these people in with their pseudo-sympathetic faces to reassure us, but you can see, no matter what they say, it’s a land grab.”

The Sandringham units are next to one of the two childcare centres that Bayside Council plans to close in the next two years.

Dr Cockburn, a Bayside resident, started campaigning against the closure because she fears for the tenants’ well-being. ”Everyone knows that if you evict elderly people, they have adverse health outcomes,” she said.

• Listen to Dr Cockburn’s 3AW podcast on social housing

One tenant had to go to hospital the day after he was told he would have to move. Dr Cockburn wants local GPs to issue notifications that many of these residents are not fit to move. ”These are elderly people with very little support, trying to get by,” she said. ”Ageing in place is very important, and this is the very antithesis of ageing in place.”

”I want to stay here until the end of time,” said Alwyn, Sister Pat’s 90-year-old neighbour.

”I’m fit enough to survive out there,” said 72-year-old neighbour Joy, ”but many of these poor people can’t survive if they move.”

A drastic shortage of low-cost housing for the elderly makes it hard to find new homes for the tenants, warn housing workers.

A new report by Swinburne University reveals that the number of independent living units – low-cost homes for the elderly – have reduced by 30 per cent across Australia in the past 10 years.

Housing worker April Bragg, from the Housing for the Aged Action Group, said she was already unable to find homes for three local octogenarians facing eviction after landlords raised their rents.

But the units cost $145,000 a year to maintain and are ”not suitable for the needs of frail older persons,” the council said in a statement provided to The Age.

While Dr Cockburn and Sandringham state MP Murray Thompson would like a housing association to take over the units, the council said feedback from two housing associations – Port Phillip and Loddon Mallee- suggested the sites were unsuitable for social housing redevelopments.

Housing Minister Wendy Lovell expressed concern ”about moves by council to reduce housing for aged people” but said that 94 extra community housing properties for older tenants had been created in Rosebud, Mornington and Dandenong in the past year.

Sister Pat was unimpressed. ”I want to live in Bayside, not Dandenong.”

Source: http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/nun-sex-guru-try-to-save-units-20111207-1oj9x.html

There is widespread outrage over two recent Bayside Council decisions, both taken without any community consultation.

In October, Council announced plans to evict the elderly, mostly disabled tenants of 18 Council owned units inSandringhamand Beaumaris.

The units were built some years before Council amalgamations under the Kennett years, and the upkeep is claimed to be $145,000 per annum.

In November, Council announced the planned closure of two childcare centres inHamptonandSandringham. This decision will affect 197 children from 149 families.

The childcare centre closures have given rise to widespread criticism, not just from the parents affected but from Scope, a charity providing disability services, and the local Federal member.

In the case of the closure of both the rental units and the childcare centres, Bayside Council cited the cost of ongoing maintenance. However, something seems to be seriously amiss when Council can find $178,000 per annum for catering and $80,000 for the erection of a so-called ‘Bravery Garden’, which was apparently the brainchild of a councillor who is chairman of an obscure organisation known as ‘The Australian Bravery Association’.

It is not possible to ascertain which Councillors voted for or against the tenant evictions or the childcare closures, because the Chief Executive Officer declared the voting process CONFIDENTIAL.

Unless one or more individual Councillors divulges his or her voting decision, they must all shoulder the blame.

Additional relevant extract from the Newsletter:

Sale of Bathing Boxes
‘The Sunday Age’ of 27 November 2011 reported that on the day before, Bayside Council sold a bathing box for $204,000. An earlier sale in June raised $260,000. The four bathing boxes sold so far this year have made $900,000. Two more to be sold in 2012 will bring the total to well over $1 million.

Despite this windfall, Council claims it is unable to afford the upkeep of two childcare centres and the residences of 18 of the most disadvantaged citizens in our community (see our report on page one).

Compassion seems to be a very rare commodity at Bayside Council.

Source (PDF File): http://www.baysideratepayers.org.au/November%20December%202011%20e-Letter1.PDF