NO PLACE LIKE HOME

Over decades of grantmaking, The Ian Potter Foundation has funded numerous programs and projects seeking to address homelessness and its causes. In 1966, a grant of $2,710 to La Trobe University funded a research program on the attributes of ‘lone and destitute homeless men’. In 1973, a $45,000 grant awarded to the Brotherhood of St Laurence helped fund ‘Elderly Pensioners' Homes’. These were significant grants at a time when the average amount of a Community Wellbeing grant was between $667 (1960s) and $1,278 (1970s). From 1964 to 1990, the Foundation directed over $500,000 in grants to fund programs addressing this critical issue.

In 2009, the Foundation introduced a more comprehensive program of grants to tackle homelessness, taking a wider and more preventative view. Between 2010 and 2014, the Foundation’s funding in this area rose to $3.7 million, and, since 2015, a further $15 million has been awarded in this area, including $13.55 million across seven major grants to fund large-scale initiatives and capital works.

Here we review the significant grants directed to projects addressing homelessness and the lack of affordable housing in Australia.

Mission Australia

Families are the fastest growing homeless demographic in Australia, which is why Mission Australia undertook the development of a $13.7 million facility designed specifically to support families at risk. While homeless support has traditionally been focused on city centres, the Mission Australia Centre is set 50 kilometres west of Sydney in one of its most disadvantaged growth corridors. The purpose-built Mission Australia Centre addresses the pressing need for family-oriented services offering temporary accommodation for families as well as timely services to stop them sliding into homelessness, including medical and mental health services, parenting skills training, financial tutoring, employment services, early childhood intervention, literacy programs for pre-school children and even a toy library.

In 2010, the Foundation awarded $1 million over four years to Mission Australia – the largest Community Wellbeing grant at that time – to finance capital costs associated with the centre’s construction.

The Mission Australia Kingswood Centre has provided assistance to thousands of families since opening in 2012.

Homes for Homes

Denman Prospect is Australia’s first Homes for Homes suburb. Every home in the development is registered with Homes for Homes and donations generated help to raise funds to increase social and affordable housing in Canberra.

Image: Homes for Homes.

The Homes for Homes initiative is an independent, not-for profit, community-led solution which raises funds through tax-deductible donations by homeowners when selling their house. These funds are granted to community housing organisations to create affordable housing in areas of greatest need. Homes for Homes targets private homeowners, builders, property developers, government, and urban renewal authorities to register property. This registration is recognised on the land title which enables a donation of 0.1% of the sale price to flow to Homes to Homes.

In 2022, Homes for Homes announced a milestone of $1 million in donations from Denman Prospect.

Denman Prospect, developed by Capital Estate Developments, is Australia’s first Homes for Homes suburb. Located in Molonglo Valley, less than 15 minutes from Canberra’s CBD, every home in Denman Prospect is registered with Homes for Homes and helps raise funds for social and affordable housing in Canberra.

Over the next 30 years the partnership between Denman Prospect and Homes for Homes is projected to generate over $17.6 million in donations.

With the donations from Denman Prospect, Homes for Homes has been able to support the creation of

four social and affordable housing projects in Canberra, helping to house 29 people in the ACT. One of these projects is run by Community Housing Canberra (CHC), which has used the grant funding from Homes for Homes to develop a group home that enables people with intellectual disability to transition from living with ageing parents to a more independent model with 24/7 support. CHC has also used the funding to provide housing for women transitioning back into the community after incarceration.

Other beneficiaries of the funds include YWCA Canberra, which will establish dwellings for women and children experiencing domestic violence; and Havelock Housing Association, which has used the funds to purchase units as long-term affordable tenancies for older women.

In 2017, the Foundation contributed $1.25 million over four years to support Homes for Homes through its establishment phase. In 2022, Homes for Homes was awarded a further $1.25 million capacity-building grant to complete the scaling-up phase of its successful model for recurrent funding of social and affordable housing.

Homes for Homes has raised and granted $1.44 million to 17 community housing projects across Australia, providing affordable housing for 293 people.

HammondCare

Jani, a HammondCare resident with HammondCare staff member Jenna.

Image: HammondCare.

HammondCare Darlinghurst is a permanent accommodation facility for older people with complex health needs who are homeless or at risk of homelessness. The facility is the first of its kind in New South Wales and is located in an area of great need, close to St Vincent’s Hospital and Kings Cross.

This accommodation facility integrates health, aged care and community services to address the needs of older people who are homeless. This holistic approach includes referral pathways to third party service providers to treat alcohol and drug dependencies and/or mental health issues.

HammondCare Darlinghurst opened in 2020 at a crucial time for older homeless people in inner-city Sydney, and provides an important evidence base to leverage future funding from state governments for similar projects.

The Foundation contributed $2.5 million over five years towards the construction of the facility and the establishment of an innovative, replicable model of service delivery for an under-served demographic.

Hope Street Youth and Family Services Inc

The Hope Street First Response Mobile Outreach Team works seven days a week from early morning to late at night to find, identify and engage with young people and young families who are (at risk of) experiencing homelessness in the Melton local government area and surrounding suburbs.

Image: Hope Street Youth & Family Services.

The Foundation awarded Hope Street Youth and Family Services Inc $1.8 million over four years to establish its First Response Youth Service, a homeless youth outreach service based in the City of Melton at a purpose-built youth crisis accommodation service.

This mobile outreach service was designed to complement other existing Hope Street specialist youth homelessness programs in Melton, a high population growth area. The nearest crisis support or accommodation service for young people in Melton was 35 kilometres away in Melbourne’s CBD.

Providing a continuity of care that builds trust and engagement, the project addresses the immediate needs of young people and families in crisis to prevent them from entering the cycle of disadvantage caused by homelessness.

This major grant made by the Foundation complemented funding from the Victorian State Government, other philanthropic organisations and strong community pro bono support.

In 2020–21, this service exceeded its annual target by 32 per cent to support 132 young people, with 75 per cent exiting to affordable housing.

Launch Housing Ltd

This $30 million project was delivered by Launch Housing in partnership with Uniting Vic.Tas, the Victorian State Government and a group of philanthropic donors, who funded over 40 per cent of the project.

Image: Launch Housing Ltd

The Foundation awarded Launch Housing a five-year $2.5 million capital grant in 2019 towards an eight-storey supported accommodation building in Dandenong, in Melbourne’s outer east, for women and children who have experienced family violence.

The Families Supportive Housing project – now known as Viv’s Place – opened in August 2022 and provides a unique combination of permanent housing and on-site wrap-around support services to provide a fresh start for up to 60 women and 130 children escaping family violence and homelessness.

Viv’s Place includes 60 dual-key apartments, along with communal kitchen and living spaces, children’s play spaces, offices, community gardens and family and childspecific services on site.

By offering permanent housing, Launch Housing is helping women and children in dire circumstances to stabilise their lives. It means children can maintain or re-engage with schooling and address their mental health concerns.

An Australia-first for its scale,Viv’s Place is based on a highly successful model in Broadway, New York, which has created supported communities in such apartment blocks over 30 years and supported thousands of people out of homelessness by giving them a permanent home and other help.

This project is intended to demonstrate the social and economic value of permanent housing. While the need is much greater than this project can address, it stands in contrast to crisis accommodation that has been shown to not solve the issue of homelessness.

Wintringham Housing Ltd

In 2018 the Foundation awarded $2.5 million to Wintringham Housing Ltd to develop specialist housing for the older homeless people in Shepparton,Victoria. This grant was successfully leveraged to gain funding support from the Victorian State Government, followed by a $5 million allocation of additional Federal Government funding for aged care services on the same site. With this funding, Wintringham Housing can realise its $10 million capital project to build much-needed social housing units in Shepparton on an existing

Wintringham housing development site. The 32 purposebuilt units are designed to support elderly residents with limited mobility and are exclusively available to members of the local community who are over 50, homeless or at risk of homelessness and assessed as needing priority housing.

The visionary project is an example of the power of partnership between philanthropic funders, government, other not-for-profit organisations and specialist service providers.