The milestone for the Linton Estate this Thursday had been eight years coming for Peter Dickson.
A large crowd gathered at what will soon become a construction site on the edge of Ballan for the first residential village for the LGBTI community and like-minded people.
“I have been up since 4.30 this morning,” he said.
“There were times (when I thought it might not happen), ask my workmates, there have been tears, ask my family but you just think ‘I am going to do this, I am going to make it happen’.”
Mr Dickson, the founder and managing director said residents could expect to see work start on Linton Estate within the next couple of weeks.
He said the facility was one of the first worldwide to cater to the LGBTI community and was something that was greatly in need.
“I am gay, and I don’t want to die alone,” he said. “My sister has kids, but I don’t have any, even if you take the sexuality away, it is about community.
“If you look at the design within the community there are little communities so people get to know each other and support each other and that is what it is all about.” When completed the facility will employ more than 35 full time staff in the Ballan area.
The funding for the facility will come through a different fund raising source, via company DomaCom.
The fundraising acts in a similar way to crowd funding and allows investors to buy “fractions” of properties in the same manner as shares.
A choice for later life
Victoria’s Gender and Sexuality Commissioner Rowena Allen was also on hand to mark the first step in construction.
“I think it means LGBTI elders have a choice about what happens to them in their later life,” she said.
“They can plan really early, they can get in on something that is ground breaking and they know that when they retire here they will be accepted.” Ms Allan said it had been difficult in the past for members of the LGBTI community to be accepted in residential villages.
“Some people have had to go back in the closet when they got into aged care,” she said. “It is always easy to be the second so I am not surprised that it has taken Peter so many years, I think we will see a lot more of this.”
By Matthew Dixon, The Courier
