Aged Care Capital Assistance Program Thin Markets

The Aged Care Capital Assistance Program provides aged care infrastructure grants aimed at maintaining or increasing access to quality aged care services in thin market settings for people:

• from First Nations communities
• living in regional, rural, and remote areas
• who are homeless, or at risk of becoming homeless
• with other complex and diverse needs, including dementia

The objectives of the program are to:

• support providers to upgrade/extend their aged care services or to deliver new builds of high quality that meet the needs of identified groups
• support organisations to provide staff accommodation to attract and retain aged care workers
• embed long-term aged care solutions where there is evident market failure, including through innovative service offerings
• assist in mitigating the risk of service closures
• maximise access to program funds by seeking a co-contribution where providers have a capacity to contribute.

The intended outcomes of the program are to:

• maintain or increase access to quality aged care services
• improve service environments and resident amenities
• improve access to culturally safe aged care services
• increase access to innovative service offerings
• improve viability and sustainability of service offerings
• prevent services at risk of closure from closing.

This grant opportunity will provide grant funding for infrastructure projects across four funding streams which are primarily focussed on maintaining or improving access to quality aged care services in small rural towns, remote and very remote communities and will also support specific groups of older Australians, including people who are homeless or at risk of homelessness and First Nations communities.  Each stream has specified objectives and outcomes that need to be considered when applying. You are required to submit a separate application for each stream of funding for which you
are applying. You can apply for multiple streams.

Stream 1: Staff Accommodation
Staff accommodation options are limited in some small rural towns, remote or very remote communities, reducing the ability for aged care providers in these settings to attract and retain workers, including but not limited to registered nurses, enrolled nurses, and personal care workers/assistants in nursing.

Stream 2: Upgrades, Expansions or New Builds
Escalating building costs, materials and trade shortages in the construction sector has limited opportunities for some providers to undertake capital improvements, this is particularly the case for providers based in small rural towns, remote or very remote communities.

Stream 3: Specialised Homeless
This stream provides an opportunity for current providers of mainstream residential aged care services with Specialised Homeless status to upgrade/expand these services or build new services (where it can be demonstrated that any new service will continue to deliver specialised homeless care and will seek Specialised Homeless status at this service).

Stream 4: National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Flexible Aged Care (NATSIFAC) Minor Projects and Equipment
This stream will support NATSIFAC services to undertake minor infrastructure projects, maintenance, and replace or purchase equipment and/or furniture at their services.