All the latest news from Women's Property Initiatives
WPI Update August 2022
August 1-7 is Homelessness Week which aims to raise awareness of the impact of homelessness in Australia.
I’d like to share with you some of the facts about women and homelessness.
On any given night there are 49,000 Australian women who are homeless.
400,000 Australian women over 45 are at risk of homelessness.
Every year 39,000 women and children seek help from homelessness services due to family and domestic violence.
Because they don’t have an affordable or safe place to live, many are forced to go back to the perpetrators.
The theme for Homelessness Week is ‘to end homelessness we need a plan’. That plan has to be more social housing. Homes end homelessness.
We encourage you to show your support for a fairer housing system that enables Australians to keep a roof over their heads by taking a moment to sign the Everybody’s Home petition.
Please read on for updates on some key projects and our work to help end women’s homelessness. Thank you for your ongoing support of WPI. If you would like to know more or get involved, please reach out or visit wpi.org.au.
Warm Regards
25th Anniversary & Fundraising Gala
We were delighted to welcome more than 350 guests to our 25th Anniversary and Fundraising Gala which resulted in us raising more than $180,000 for our 25 Homes Campaign.
25 years is a wonderful milestone for WPI, which now owns 115 homes with a goal to deliver another 25 homes in the next three years.
On any given night, 49,000 Australian women are homeless. Due to a lack of secure housing many remain in unsafe situations.
The gala was a spectacular evening made possible by our major event partner, Built, and our event sponsors, Hansen Partnership, ANZ Private, SW Accountants and Advisors and Russell Kennedy Women’s Network.
With a glittering live auction and hotly contested silent auction, we are so grateful to everyone who dug deep and helped us exceed our fundraising goal for the night. It was a great start to our 25 Homes Campaign.
Nightingale Village
Women’s Property Initiatives has opened the doors to nine stunning apartments in Nightingale Village in Brunswick. These one and two-bedroom apartments will offer a pathway out of housing stress for a group of single women and women led families who deserve a new beginning.
Nightingale Village is a collection of six neighbouring buildings, each designed by an award-winning architect, using the social, environmental and financial sustainability principles of the Nightingale model and with community in mind. We are thrilled to be able to offer homes for women in need, in this exciting urban village set beside the Upfield train line.
The building has a minimum 7-star energy rating and is Australia’s first carbon neutral residential project. Our new homes in Nightingale Village are funded through Homes Victoria’s Social Housing Growth Fund, part of the Big Housing Build, which will deliver more than 12,000 social housing properties and create more than 10,000 jobs over the life of the program.
It would not have been possible for WPI to purchase these homes without a generous contribution from our long-term supporter, Matrix Guild, who will have nomination rights for four of the apartments.
Image credit: Kate Longley
Large family home in Melbourne's west
A large family home was delivered in Melbourne’s west last week that is truly the product of effective collaboration and generosity.
We are extremely grateful to the Scalzo Family, who are long term supporters of WPI, for donating the land which provided the catalyst for this project and to Christine Gilbertson who made a generous contribution that helped to bring this home to life. It sits within a growth precinct, west of Melbourne and is perfectly positioned to provide a new beginning for a vulnerable family in a vibrant new community. It is now home to a mother and her six children who have been living in overcrowded conditions in transitional housing. They were beyond thrilled with this beautiful new home and to be close to family and the school which many of the children attend that caters for special needs.
The home was built by Dennis Family Homes in partnership with the The Victorian Homeless Fund. The project was also supported by Lendlease Future Steps Foundation and ISPT.
Jo's Story
Before finding secure housing Jo slept on friends couches for 10 years. Her situation was grim.
Jo is a talented artist, but her income was irregular and often low. She simply couldn’t afford secure housing of her own. She started house-sitting – minding peoples’ pets while they went on holiday and couch-surfing at friends’ places. The constant stress and anxiety of finding shelter took a terrible toll on her mental health. “I was hopping from one sofa to the next... it was awful,” she says, recalling her lowest moment when she couldn’t afford food and didn’t know where her next meal would come from. But then, through Matrix Guild, Jo was connected to WPI.
