New - partly rate and taxpayer funded - homeless shelter will feature worm farm, organic garden
An “Indigenous privacy garden”, entertaining and sunbaking area will form part of a new Melbourne homeless shelter, with hotel-like facilities.
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A new $20m homeless shelter partly funded by ratepayers and taxpayers will include a rooftop space with a communal barbecue area, “sharing circle”, and “Indigenous privacy garden”.
City of Melbourne has released drawings and images of what the former council archives building at 602 Lt Bourke St could look like when finished.
As more donations are pledged for the Make Room project that will have up to 50 studio apartments, it can be revealed that homeless residents will have access to hotel-style facilities.
A rooftop “gathering and entertaining” area will include an outdoor kitchen with barbecue to cater for casual catch ups or bigger social events, says a council document for the project.
A “sharing circle” will comprise “a peaceful outdoor room allowing people to come together to share their story and be heard”.
“Seating to be configured in a circular arrangement and nestled among lush native planting to provide as sense of enclosure and privacy,” the document said.
Also planned is a garden featuring trees and vegetables, with food waste to be processed through compost and a worm farm.
A pergola with a green ceiling of “deciduous climbers” will feature on the rooftop, while reclined seats will be provided for “sun lounging or just relaxing and watching the clouds pass above”.
The council provided the $12m building for the project, while the state government has put in $9m for renovation and wraparound services costs.
Unison Housing will run the operation.
Council has raised $14.5m of the $20m needed for the refurbishment, with $650,000 in donations just received from the Erdi Foundation and Hansen Little Foundation.
These donations secure the fit-out for the project’s in-house social enterprise centre and 10 rooms.
The completed project will comprise five levels of studio units, and a ground floor and basement to include multi-use spaces.
Lord Mayor Sally Capp said the council looked forward “to delivering this important project to provide safe and supported accommodation for people who are sleeping rough on our city streets”.
“Melbourne is a caring city – and everyone deserves a safe place to call home and access to vital support services,” she said.
Hansen Little Foundation CEO Jane Hansen , whose husband is billionaire businessman Paul Little, said: “We believe that offering housing solutions to those experiencing homelessness, including providing accommodation and support services so they may feel safe and secure at all times, is critical to improving lives.”
Erdi Foundation CEO Simone Szalmuk-Singer said the Jewish organisation was proud to join the philanthropic sector in funding the venture, “and hopes that many others will join us in empowering this vital project”.
Structural works are due to start in June 2023 and scheduled for completion in mid-2024.
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