2,016 beds and units have now been approved across 19 aged care and retirement developments since the incentives were launched by the new Brisbane City Council in September last year.
That’s up from an average of less than 1,000 beds approved a year over the six years prior to the scheme.
The incentives for villages and aged care developments include:
- Cutting eligible developers’ infrastructure charges by 33 per cent for three years;
- A new team to fast-track the application of new applications with free pre-lodgment advice and a guarantee on a decision on an application within 90 business days;
- An extra two-storey allowance in medium- and high-density locations;
- A lowering of the level of assessment required where the development is in a particular zone eg community facilities, specialised centre zones, low-density and low-medium density residential;
- The integration of facilities allowed in facilities, including childcare centres, restaurants and cafes;
- Co-locating developments on land zoned for recreation or privately owned by sporting clubs; and
- An easier way to change the use of existing buildings from a retirement village to an aged care facility and vice versa.
Interestingly, the Brisbane Times reports that so far only three of the approved developments have applied for the infrastructure subsidy charges.
Another 1,547 beds and units across 10 developments are also awaiting approval.
This include TriCare’s recent application for 376 beds and units across buildings nine to 16 storeys in Taringa, 5km southwest of the CBD – its third since the measures began.
If the current applications are approved by September, it will bring the total number of 3,563 beds and units – just short of the 3,600 new aged care beds every year that Council predicts it will need to accommodate its ageing population.
