00:00We've actually moved down from Sydney three and a half years ago and enjoying our lives here in Hobart and basically semi-retired or retired.
00:10And we've made up a little B&B in our house and over the last couple of years we've found a number of women who are finding themselves homeless needing to be accommodated.
00:21So we've brought them in as guests and they've stayed from either a week or some up to about four or five months.
00:27And we're starting to realise that this is a very serious and very deep problem within the city.
00:33Yeah, Jan, I'll ask you a bit more about these women that have been staying in this sort of Airbnb of yours.
00:41How long have some of them been with you and what have you learned from them about the housing need in your area?
00:48Well, anything from, I think the first one was three days.
00:54She'd been sleeping in her car for six weeks.
00:58She was in her 60s and she just wanted three days until she got into government housing.
01:03And she posted on the Good Karma network that her arthritis was playing up.
01:08Could she please have a floor for three days?
01:11And she was so scared of we had beds, of course, in there.
01:16She said, I don't deserve a bed.
01:18Her husband had kicked her out and said she didn't deserve anything.
01:21And so I thought, how could you be reduced so low at a vulnerable time of life?
01:27So she stayed the three days and she went into her new housing.
01:32And we had another who had, because of a stroke, had lost her job and she didn't have enough money to...
01:41She originally booked through NDIS.
01:43She didn't have enough money to move into anywhere in Hobart that she thought she could.
01:48..and it just got sadder and sadder.
01:51We had three or four of them and it just got very sad.
01:54And we thought, this really is an issue, you know?
01:56It wasn't just a once-er.
01:58And I've always wanted to do something about the homeless,
02:03but it's never been within our reach.
02:05And this one fell within our reach at a time when we had some super
02:10and we thought, well, let's just do it.
02:12So you've purchased this former boarding house now.
02:18How much work does it need before it's up and running
02:21and when are you hoping to welcome tenants?
02:24Well, it doesn't...
02:26It needs things like the path was deteriorated,
02:29so we've got to make it safe.
02:31It's been kept really well.
02:33The Jane Franklin Hall have kept it really well.
02:36So it complies to most things.
02:39There's just a few little tweaks we'd like.
02:41We'd like another little bathroom and kitchen
02:43for our tenants upstairs.
02:45So we'd like to put that in before they came in.
02:48And it's very small tweaks that we need to do
02:51and we've just got to get council approval to go ahead with it.
02:54And then we'll be right.
02:56We'll be opening the doors ready to rock and roll,
02:58hopefully, at the beginning of October or earlier if we can do it.
03:02Fantastic.
03:03And what's the reaction been from your local community there?
03:07It's been quite astounding, actually.
03:10And we've been very pleased.
03:12Some people are not quite sure what we're doing,
03:14but once they grasp the concept that we're actually doing this
03:18to create a safe space for these women,
03:20they come on board very quickly.
03:22We're setting up projects for the gardening
03:24that I've got an architect on board for the works
03:26that we've got to get done.
03:28Builders have come forward to talk to us.
03:30We're still in the early days of this, of course,
03:32but everyone who's seeing the project
03:35and understanding this project is just a community-based,
03:38but we're just giving it a kick-off with our financial support.
03:42They're coming to us and asking us whether we can...
03:46They're asking us to...
03:49Asking them to help us get it right eventually.
03:53A lot of support.
03:55People have been really open-hearted.
03:57a lot of support.
04:00What does that mean?
04:02There are lots of people who are looking at what you're looking for.
04:07We've got a lot of help.
04:09We've got a lot of help.
04:11We've got a lot of help in the community.
04:13We've got a lot of help to help.
04:15This is the way we can get into it.
Comments