The $500 ‘whole of Australia’ solution to housing ‘disaster’

It’s a small donation that could generate more than $1 billion in social housing.

A social enterprise tackling the housing crisis is calling on home sellers and developers to do more to alleviate the desperate need for more social and affordable homes — and it could cost them as little as $500.

Homes for Homes, created by the Big Issue, has just signed a deal with the Queensland government and registered its first Queensland developer.

Mia Bannister, Queensland partnerships manager at Homes For Homes. Picture: John Gass.

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The not-for-profit enterprise provides a scalable and sustainable funding model for using small donations made during the sale of a property.

When a property registered with Homes for Homes is sold, 0.1 per cent of the sale price is donated to the organisation.

These funds are then distributed as grants to community housing providers, who use them to build or acquire homes for people in need.

The donation is voluntary and the covenant can be removed at any time. On a $500,000 property, it amounts to $500. On a $1m property, the donation would be $1000.

Homes For Homes is urging more developers to register their projects with the organisation. Picture: Rohan Kelly.

More than $2.5m has so far been granted, creating over 300 homes across Australia, with hundreds more projected to be built in the coming years.

If just 5 per cent of Australia’s properties were registered, the program could generate over $1 billion for social housing over 30 years, according to modelling by SGS Economics & Planning.

Homes for Homes Queensland partnerships manager Mia Bannister said De Martini Fletcher had just registered it’s project of 88 luxury apartments in Stones Corner, Corner House — a first for a developer in the state.

An artist’s impression of Corner House by De Martini Fletcher in Stones Corner.

Ms Bannister said Economic Development Queensland had also signed a memorandum of understanding with Homes for Homes to begin working with the organisation.

“What I would like to see is Homes for Homes getting written into prority development areas as an option for developers to use,” she said.

“We have so many priority development areas out there — Waraba, the ‘Gabba…they’re homes for thousands and thousands of people.”

But Ms Bannister said the take-up of the initiative had been slower than she had hoped.

Homes for Homes is calling for more sellers to donate to the fundraising initiative. Picture: Gaye Gerard.

“Being a charitable organisation, I think people push us down to the bottom of the pile of things to do, so it’s trying to change that mindset that we’re a solution to a problem that’s everybody’s problem,” she said.

“It’s a whole of Australia solution really because what does it really cost you to register your home? Nothing, but it’s trying to change that mindset.

“The deficiency of social and affordable homes in Australia is projected to be more than one million by 2026, so that’s disaster.”

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