Somerset on the Pier donates furniture to Vinnies’ Amelie House
Women at risk of homelessness will benefit from a donation of $500k worth of furniture from a hotel in the midst of a significant refurbishment.
Tasmania
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A new transitional housing service for at-risk women has received $500,000 of furniture from a hotel refurbishing its premises.
The Somerset on the Pier hotel has gifted furniture to the St Vincent de Paul Society (Vinnies) for its Amelie House service.
The service for women at risk of homelessness in Hobart will provide accommodation for up to 43 females.
The former Bethlehem House site will house the women and will be stocked with beds, kitchen equipment, and furniture for communal areas from Somerset on the Pier.
Ascott Limited owns the hotel, and its Brand and ESG General Manager, Anthea Dimitrakopoulos, said it was “a simple decision” to donate the furniture.
“We turned around and said ‘guess what? We are actually closing down our amazing property, Somerset on the Pier, for a big refurb, and we have a whole bunch of beds and furniture that we can repurpose. And rather than go into landfill, why can’t we repurpose really good quality furniture so that Vinnies house can utilise that,” Ms Dimitrakopoulos said.
“And from that conversation, everyone mobilised, and it was very much a can-do.”
“We have over 200 pieces of furniture.”
Ms Dimitrakopoulos said Ascott Limited was “very passionate” about the communities in which it operated.
“We believe that if the community is thriving, then we all thrive as people.
“It makes no sense that in this day and age, women are facing these challenges – in particular, homelessness.
“It makes no sense for a woman and child to be living in a car simply because they can’t access safe housing.
“And so, in our role, it’s about doing better and doing good. And if the community thrives, then our business thrives.”
Vinnies Tasmania President Corey McGrath said Amelie House provided transitional accommodation for single women.
“Ideally, we’d like to be able to only provide long-term housing – but we need to develop the site – and so in the interim, giving people somewhere to sleep is better than nothing,” Mr McGrath said.
Despite providing more women at risk of homelessness somewhere to sleep, Mr McGrath said Amelie House was merely “a drop in the ocean” in addressing the demand.
“Unfortunately, this model, because we don’t have the funding, it’s a light touch model – so it’s essentially housing and food.
“There’s not a lot of add-on services, that is in the longer-term plan.”
Amelie House currently has 10 people staying in the facility, with more people expected to use the service in the coming weeks.
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Originally published as Somerset on the Pier donates furniture to Vinnies’ Amelie House
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