Mates with disability to get Endeavour Foundation purpose-built forever home

John, Brendan and Malcolm are three mates who've been working and living together for more than 10 years.

Now they can't wait to move into their forever home, which will be built specifically for their needs.

John Galligan, Malcolm Growns and Brendan Duncanson each have an intellectual disability and they love being able to live independently with assistance from their support workers.

They work together, pulling apart TVs to create scrap metals, turning old t-shirts into household rags and shredding sensitive documents for the Endeavour Foundation.

But for a while now, they've been needing a more suitable home.

This month construction will start on their picturesque forever home.

Mr Galligan is already planning a plantation of lemonade and mandarin trees for the backyard and his housemates have elected him head chef on the barbeque.

"It's the start of a new beginning," Mr Galligan said.

"It's good to see the house getting built, and when it's finished, it'll be good.

"It'll be nice to have all of us guys live in this house — it'll be a bunch of blokes doing business.

First home of many

The Endeavour Foundation has announced it will invest $2 million to build the fully accessible home and refurbish another three homes in Townsville and Ayr.

It's a part of the foundation's My Home, My Life initiative.

The organisation will invest a total $35 million over the next three years to build 59 accessible homes for people living with a disability in Queensland.

Endeavour Foundation CEO Andrew Donne says the My Home, My Life program will provide suitable accommodation for 352 people, allowing them to live as independently as possible.

Mr Donne says it's a challenge for people with disability to find suitable accommodation on the open rental market.

"[We're] really trying to get ahead of the curve to ensure that every person with a disability will be able to access accessible housing.

"If there's people out there in the community looking for accessible housing, we would be happy to take a call to see if we could accommodate those people."

The new homes are all built to the Platinum standard of the Liveable Housing Australia guidelines.

"We also have some interactive technologies at the property as well to ensure that customers can communicate with the staff person if they need them," Mr Donne said.

John, Brendan and Malcolm are hopeful they'll be able to move into the new property by the end of the year.

For now, they're continuing their weekly rituals together such as attending bowling on Tuesdays and busting a move at Happy Feat community dance events.

Source: ABC