A non-profit organisation has angered many Esperance residents by selling a respite home believed to have been built entirely through community fundraisers and government grants.
Key points:
- GIFSA said it would be open to discussions about putting Read House into a community trust
- It will continue to keep Read House open to the four residents who live with disability
- Council says it tried to prove Read House was built by the community but could not source documentation
Read House opened on January 30, 1982, after locals spent years holding fetes, lamington sales, quiz nights and events, as well as securing government grants, to come up with the $112,000 required to build it.
The land it was built on is also believed to have been donated.
Read House remains the permanent home of four residents who live with disability.
But Activ Foundation, which withdrew services from Esperance in 2020, had its name on the title.
It is believed that was because former Activ entity the Slow Learning Children’s Group of WA ran the service when the house first opened.
Goldfields Individual and Family Support Association (GIFSA) confirmed it paid $500,000 to buy the house off Activ at the end of August.
Activ confirmed the sale but declined to comment further.
Even though Activ was entitled to sell the asset and GIFSA has confirmed it will continue to provide services, the sale has left a bad taste in the mouths of many residents.
Cheryl Hoffman, whose family was involved in fundraising for Read House and whose aunt used the respite home many times over the years, is unhappy the sale proceeds went to Activ, given the community fundraising effort that secured the home in the first place.
“I’m absolutely fuming,” she said.
“I just think it’s totally wrong.”
While she was relieved GIFSA intends to keep the house open to the residents who need it, she said there was a risk the house could be sold or shut down in the future.
“It should have been held in a trust so that it could always be [available to those who need it],” she said.
‘Hands tied behind our back’
GIFSA CEO Terrence Winner said it considered working with the Shire of Esperance to transfer the house into community ownership through a trust arrangement.
He said he was open to continuing those discussions in the future.
“We’ll … have a plan moving forward to continue to work with the shire and see if there’s a possible solution where we can work out ways to transfer assets in the future,” he said.
“But obviously there’s a bit of work to be done in that space.”
Esperance shire president Ian Mickel said the shire considered challenging Activ’s claim to the house.
But he said it could not source paperwork to prove it was a community asset before the sale went through.
“We were really fighting with our hands tied behind our back,” he said.
“And end result was that that deal went through.”
He said he was glad GIFSA stepped in but was “extremely disappointed” Activ received the proceeds.
He said many locals hoped to see Read House eventually end up in a community trust and suggested other housing for people living with disability could be sourced and brought into that trust as well.
“If we can put it all together I think it’ll be a good community outcome for the longer term and an assurance that nobody else can get their mitts onto the money,” he said.
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