Past Events

The Coolah 'Home Base' was born as a dream for independent, autonomous community living for retirees. Older Australians with modest incomes invested their life savings to convert a caravan park in regional NSW into a co-op headquarters for their 'grey nomad' lifestyles. Their dreams were shattered when a dispute about community management spiraled out of control, ending with their land being sold from under them and threats of eviction. Tune in to the recording of this webinar to hear the residents' story; why they invested, where it all went wrong, and the ongoing legal battle they are fighting to win back their beloved retirement community. Residents David, Margaret, Christine and Geoff were present at the Webinar to field questions from attendees.

The story of the Coolah Residents should be a warning to all about the insecurity of housing in Australia.

Hosting the webinar was John Engeler, CEO of Shelter NSW, joined by Shane McGrath, Senior Retirement Housing Worker at the Housing for the Aged Action Group (a not-for-profit community organisation that specialises in older people’s housing justice), to provide context about the wider housing issues older Australians face. Finally, Nick Sabel, CEO of Common Equity (NSW’s peak housing co-operative body) discusses ‘intentional communities’ like Coolah Home Base and the reforms needed to foster their success and avoid other older people falling into a similar situation.

As pensioners, the legal costs of this fight have been exorbitantly expensive for the residents of Coolah 'Home Base'. They have started a GoFundMe crowd-funding campaign to cover these fees and continue their legal proceedings to win back their homes.

Follow the link to help out. All contributions go a long way to supporting the residents in their fight! https://au.gofundme.com/f/caravan-park-help

As a valued supporter of Shelter NSW, we would like to extend an invitation to you to attend our Annual General Meeting. All members are invited and encouraged to attend.

If you are not yet a member but would like to become one, or are an existing member but have not yet renewed, we invite you to complete your application before the AGM via the application form on our website.

We send a big thank you for the support and encouragement you have given Shelter NSW, and look forward to your continued affiliation with us over the next year.