WPI Update September 2021

Spring is upon us! Even though it lifts the spirits to see some warmer weather, it is such a challenging period. It is especially difficult for our tenants, experiencing loss of income and isolation from friends and family, not to mention the very many people who don't have a secure home to see them through lockdown. This is what keeps us focused on delivering more homes for vulnerable women and their children.

In between lockdowns, WPI moved into a new office in Melbourne's CBD. We are excitedly looking forward to a time when we can all be back at work together.

On a positive note, WPI has reached a very significant milestone! We now own 100 homes (101 in fact). We are thrilled to reach this point, and acknowledge the many wonderful individuals and organisations who have played a part in this achievement. 

This was accomplished with tenants moving into 10 new apartments in Melbourne's north east, despite increasing uncertainty and complication due to the pandemic. The women and families moving in couldn't have been more delighted with their new homes. 

We are excited about the progress on developments in Brunswick and Beaconsfield which have been slowed down by COVID, but are still moving forward. You can read more about these future homes in our update. 

We continue to advocate for more social housing, particularly housing for women, and have participated in recent sector wide initiatives. The Women's Safety Summit has just concluded as I write this, with very little focus placed on housing. You simply can’t talk about women’s safety without talking about safe and affordable homes, so we continue to seek a commitment from the Federal Government on a national plan for housing.

Next year WPI will celebrate 25 years of operation. We look forward to sharing our anniversary plans with you, and we profoundly hope that we can gather with all of you who have been on this journey with us. 

Warm Regards

Older women's housing project

Despite lockdown, exciting progress is being made on our older women's housing project in Beaconsfield. Our builder partner, RK Design and Build, are forging ahead under difficult circumstances. We even managed to hold an information session for a group of interested women who were thoroughly impressed with the construction progress and the thoughtful design of the homes.

This project provides an opportunity for older women facing housing insecurity because they don't have the capacity to own a home of their own, to invest in a high quality, affordable, adaptable home and secure their future. These beautiful homes, designed by Studio Bright to accommodate gold liveable standards, provide a fantastic alternative for women who are watching their savings being eroded in an unaffordable and insecure private rental market. 

Scheduled for completion in October, these homes will provide:

• airy spaces, thoughtfully designed to maximise space, light and energy efficiency
• adaptable floor plans that can be configured to meet the resident’s needs
• long term security of tenure – a home for as long as residents want it
• affordable, income based rent
• preservation of invested capital plus interest
• an opportunity to avoid the depletion of savings on unaffordable rent

The pilot of this project has been made possible with funding from Lord Mayor's Charitable Foundation, Gandel Philanthropy, Homes for Homes, Mercy Foundation, Ian Potter Foundation and Westpac Foundation. It is also supported by Brickworks and Eckersley Garden Architecture.

You can get more information about this project  here, or email our Property Development Manager, natasha@wpi.org.au

Homelessness Week 2021

During Homelessness Week, along with many other organisations in the community sector, our team shared their thoughts on what it would mean to build more social housing. The positive impacts of social housing are too numerous to elaborate upon, but one that we wanted to highlight is the difference that is makes for women and children escaping family violence.

Family violence is the leading reason women and children seek help from homelessness services. According to Access Economics the current lack of long-term social housing is leading to 7,690 women a year returning to violent partners and 9,120 women a year becoming homeless.

Their report found that if the Commonwealth Government invested in 16,800 additional social housing units, the $7.8 billion cost would create immediate economic benefits of $15.2 billion and 47,000 new jobs.

The additional social housing would generate savings of $122.5 million a year due to women not returning to a violent partner and a further $257 million a year in savings due to women not experiencing homelessness after leaving their homes due to family and domestic violence.

The Women's Safety Summit concluded as we issue this update, with little to no focus on the provision of housing as an escape route for women experiencing violence. We look forward to a commitment from our Federal Government to support social housing around Australia. Sign the petition to our Prime Minister, Scott Morrison.