Catholic Homes and Villa Maria to merge
Catholic Homes and Villa Maria have announced their intention to merge, subject to due diligence and member approval. Peter Collery, Catholic Homes chairman and Peter Hogan, Villa Maria president, made the announcement last week.
Merging the two organisations will reportedly deliver a greater depth and breadth of innovative, quality services to those supported by both organisations and increase capacity to invest into areas of need, such as social housing and disability services.
Providing aged care and disability services has become increasingly costly, particularly in regard to meeting heightened standards of compliance. With government and sector changes to the way services are funded and structured, consolidation is a proactive move by both organisations to plan for the future.
“The short story is that two successful, Catholic values based, not for profit organisations with very similar missions have seen the benefits of scale, and worked together closely to create a better outcome for the people we support, our staff, our stakeholders and the community in general,” Mr Hogan says.
“We have a shared heritage, a strong vision and, by combining our expertise and skill, we will strengthen our commitment to the community and our capacity to deliver flexible and responsive services; services that people want and need.”
Catholic Homes chair, Peter Collery, says: “It is understandable that two Catholic organisations doing similar work are so closely aligned. This proposed merger will make two strong organisations even stronger, and enable us to continue to grow and develop services.
“We’re here to make a difference to people’s lives. Our communities are the heart and soul of our organisations and this decision is about delivering the best possible outcomes for the people we support now and into the future,” he says.
The merged entity will be governed by a board comprised of equal representation from the boards of both organisations.
The two boards have signed a Memorandum of Understanding and, subject to due diligence and the agreement of Villa Maria’s members and His Grace the Archbishop of Melbourne, Denis Hart, will continue to proactively collaborate to bring the two organisations together.
