By Luke Voogt
The Catholic church has scuttled plans to house mentally ill people on a site it owns at Thomson.
Objections from residents forced the church to withdraw support for the facility, said St Mary’s Parish priest Father Kevin Dillon.
Fr Dillion said he was disappointed but gave his word in 2014 that the proposal would proceed only with local support.
“If something meant to do good is doing damage to good people you quit,” he told the Indy.
“The withdrawal of the church means people don’t have to worry it’s going to rear its head again.”
The church had planned to lease 46 Lomond Terrace to Haven Foundation for a 16-bed facility, near two schools, a child care centre and a liquor store.
Fr Dillion said Haven “got off on the wrong foot” when it first presented the plan at an “ugly” community meeting in 2014.
“Haven made some considerable efforts to help people understand the non-threatening nature of the people who would live there,” he said.
“But early perceptions can do a lot of damage.”
Fr Dillion received several letters from residents opposing the accommodation recently.
The church withdrew the lease after lengthy discussions, he said.
The proposed building’s size and “heightened fear” in the community also motivated local opposition, Fr Dillion believed.
“People don’t trust in neighbours the way they used to.”
The proposed building would, ironically, have been less threatening than a block of flats anyone could occupy, Fr Dillion said
“Every person there would have had a working with children check, a police check and no drug and alcohol issues.”
The church first offered the lease after seeing Haven Foundation’s work firsthand at a South Yarra facility.
“We went to visit and were enormously impressed with the project,” Father Dillion said.
“The neighbours were very positive about it.”
Haven Foundation’s community consultation in South Yarra was much more comprehensive than in Geelong, Fr Dillion said.
“They knocked on doors and talked to neighbours first. It would have been far better – although more painstaking – to spell it out to people here.”
Fr Dillion hoped the foundation would find another location in Geelong.
“There’s got to be somewhere better they can do this.”
Fr Dillion said the church would consider other uses for the site, which accommodates two priests and a local no-interest loans charity.
“It’s back to the drawing board.”
Haven Foundation chairman Allan Fels said many locals had “stressed the desperate need for this kind of accommodation in Geelong” since last week.
“We’ll consider other options in Geelong and Victoria,” he told the Indy.
