As the Suburban Rail Loop drives up rents, this affordable health clinic could become homeless

A community health care centre that has operated in central Box Hill for 20 years is at risk of being turfed out of its premises by land speculation fuelled by the promised arrival of the Suburban Rail Loop. Nillumbik Community Health Services, a not-for-profit clinic that provides subsidised dental care, physiotherapy, podiatry and other services to people who can’t afford private treatment, is in a three-storey building about 100 metres from the proposed Box Hill SRL station in Melbourne’s east. Work in March at the Box Hill site for the proposed Suburban Rail Loop.

Credit: Penny Stephens The building is on the market for an undisclosed sum, with the realtors handling the sale promoting the possibility of future redevelopment of up to 24 storeys. The community health centre, which trades as healthAbility, holds a lease until June next year and an option for a further two years. Nillumbik Community Health Services chief executive Agata Jarbin said the asking price for her organisation to extend its lease was beyond its capacity to pay and the cost of moving prohibitively expensive.



The clinic has, among other heavy medical equipment, 10 dental chairs that would need to be shifted to new premises. It pays about $337 per metre per annum on its current Carrington Road lease, which equates to rent of about $800,000 a year. The current market rate is above $500 per metre, which would mean a rent hike of nearly 50 per cent.

“We are unable to extend the lease without additional financial support, and we have no certainty about the future of the building after the sale,” Jarbin said. Selina has been a healthAbility patient for 20 years. Credit: Jason South “We have spoken to developers, to government and the (Whitehorse) council and looked at a number of avenues.

Unfortunately, there is no ready solution that anyone has recommended or offered.” The clinic met last year with the Suburban Rail Loop Authority to discuss the rental squeeze but, despite the project’s draft structure plan for Box Hill identifying a future “health priority” area for more medical services, the authority did not suggest a more immediate fix..