A Hobart couple concerned about the housing crisis has taken matters into their own hands. Richard and Jan Gould have bought a former boarding house and are turning it into affordable housing for older women at risk of homelessness. They have been helping homeless women at their house for the past few years.
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.
