The latest round of the Aged Care Capital Assistance Program (ACCAP) has once again highlighted the gulf between providers’ ambitions to build and the funding available.
The Department of Health, Disability and Ageing received 367 applications seeking more than $2.4 billion in total funding. Just 66 projects were successful – less than one in five – with $300 million allocated overall, or around 12% of the total requested.
“This was a highly competitive grant opportunity, with demand far exceeding the available funding,” the Department said in its applicant feedback.
Providers ‘want to build’ but funding scarce
The program, now in its third round, is targeted at upgrading or building new aged care homes and staff accommodation in regional, rural and remote areas.
This year’s grants will support:
- 315 new or reopened aged care beds
- 12 projects focused on delivering culturally appropriate aged care for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, and
- Southern Cross Care Queensland’s 94-bed home in Broken Hill to address viability challenges in the region.
But with four in five applications unsuccessful, sector leaders say the oversubscription underscores a deeper issue: providers want to build, but the system isn’t investable.
Tony Dunn, CEO of regional Victorian Not For Profit Westmont Aged Care Services, told The Weekly SOURCE they had abandoned plans to build a new dementia care facility in Barnaduda after failing twice to secure Government support.
“It’s just too hard,” Tony said.
Investability question lingers
While demand for grants is surging, the underlying financial picture for aged care remains weak. StewartBrown’s latest survey shows more than half of providers are still operating at a loss.
That leaves Government funding as one of the few levers available to build and refurbish beds – but the oversubscription of the ACCAP program shows it can’t be relied on to meet demand.
The message is clear: the appetite to build is there, but until providers can make a sustainable margin, capital investment will remain problematic – and the pressure on Government to step in will only grow.
