Despite delays attributable to COVID-19, we’ve been able to discuss the submission we sent to ACT Ministers in March last year with Emma Davidson, the Minister for Mental Health, and officials first of ACT Housing and later of the Mental Health Policy unit of ACT Health.
At their suggestion we’ve discussed aspects of our proposal with ACT agencies providing support or accommodation for people with mental illness: in particular, the definition of people for whom MyHome is intended to provide homes, MyHome’s place among other support or accommodation services, and MyHome’s business viability.
These discussions have been informative for us, especially about preparatory processes to take account of co-design principles and NDIS plans. They have also helped us to develop our business plan. As results of these discussions, a note describing the proposed cohort of residents of MyHome and its place among other ACT services is here, an outline of the process we envisage for developing the MyHome service is here, and our revised draft business plan is here.
These recent discussions have also confirmed that there’s general support for our proposal among the agencies we consulted.
Therefore, although neither preliminary funding nor forward estimates for capital funding were included in the ACT Government’s budget for this current financial year, we remain hopeful for next financial year (2022-23).