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Speaker 1: Tenth of October today. There's a few international days that

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Speaker 1: fall on this day. One is World Homeless Day and

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Speaker 1: as a result of that, there's a call for property

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Speaker 1: developers being urged to turn empty buildings into short term

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Speaker 1: accommodation to help the growing number of homeless people in Australia.

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Speaker 1: The call has come from Link Wentworth. The chief customer

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Speaker 1: officer is Margaret Malkovich who joins me now, Margaret.

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Speaker 2: Good morning, Good morning, Matthew.

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Speaker 1: How does this work? How does turning empty buildings? So

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Speaker 1: presumably buildings a waiting development, is that right?

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Speaker 2: That's right? Yeah, absolutely, buildings awaiting development, development, application and

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Speaker 2: planning process can take a number of years. And while

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Speaker 2: they're awaiting development, they could simply be used as housing.

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Speaker 2: Now they've made the much needed shortfall of housing across

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Speaker 2: the spectrum.

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Speaker 1: That would come at a cost, wouldn't it. Because you

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Speaker 1: might have an old office building that isn't set up

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Speaker 1: for accommodation, doesn't have its own rooms, its own facilities

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Speaker 1: in terms of bathroom, showers, et cetera. Toy So is

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Speaker 1: there a cost involved in setting them up? And that's

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Speaker 1: where you could find a developer says too hard.

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Speaker 2: I think it's worth exploring. It's worth exploring some properties

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Speaker 2: will absolutely there could be a cost with some, there

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Speaker 2: could be minimal cost with others. So I really think

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Speaker 2: it's the case by case. We've certainly been able to

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Speaker 2: provide meanwhile, use for up to forty women in a

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Speaker 2: couple of properties that are a waiting redevelopment in the

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Speaker 2: Sydney area, and there was a minimal cost in terms

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Speaker 2: of transforming them to make them suitable. So yeah, that's

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Speaker 2: absolutely a consideration. But I would suggest if anyone has

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Speaker 2: properties available and they're not sure what to do with them,

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Speaker 2: or may it take a few years to go through

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Speaker 2: the development and financing process, have a think about whether

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Speaker 2: they can be used as housing and you can and

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Speaker 2: work through with experts in this space like us, who

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Speaker 2: can work out what's the cost, what's the benefit. I

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Speaker 2: will point out to developers there is some benefit like

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Speaker 2: some I think, less insurance, less risk of vandalism, etc.

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Speaker 2: But most importantly knowing that you're providing much needed housing

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Speaker 2: during a housing crisis.

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Speaker 1: Okay, so you're saying turning them into housing improves the

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Speaker 1: insurance risks, so the premiums come down.

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Speaker 2: There are things that are worth looking at I think

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Speaker 2: you know, and I would say to developers, consider it

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Speaker 2: and then work through, work through with experts like us,

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Speaker 2: whether your particular property is suitable for meanwhile use, What

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Speaker 2: is the cost, what is the benefit? And if the

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Speaker 2: cost is too high or the housing's not suitable, then nothing,

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Speaker 2: you know, nothing's eured, nothing gain, don't lose anything. But

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Speaker 2: we certainly have had some success. We've also had some

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Speaker 2: meanwhile use where people had single homes or two or

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Speaker 2: through three homes next to each other, planning to develop

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Speaker 2: them sometime in the future. That was sitting bacon and

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Speaker 2: we leased them to people, just simply leasing them as

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Speaker 2: affordable housing to families. So there's lots and lots of

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Speaker 2: different ways that available. Vacant homes that are not currently

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Speaker 2: being used while you're either planning to redevelop not sure

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Speaker 2: what to do with them, we can be used to

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Speaker 2: provide rental housing, and of course you need to assess

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Speaker 2: the cost, the risk, the benefit.

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Speaker 1: Somebody's making the very valid point, and I had this

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Speaker 1: on my list about speeding up the application approval process.

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Speaker 3: It takes years. As you said, what a joke? Is

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Speaker 3: that a problem? Here? Should we be looking at doing that?

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Speaker 2: Instead to create carel Yes, so I think, look, it's

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Speaker 2: a really complex issue, the housing crisis and homelessness, etc.

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Speaker 2: And there are many, many things that should be done

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Speaker 2: on lots of front and I know people are working

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Speaker 2: in that space. So I would, you know, absolutely encourage

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Speaker 2: looking at all those things. I'm speaking on behalf of

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Speaker 2: a community housing organization talking about some of the things

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Speaker 2: that we can do in that space, and I urge

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Speaker 2: the whole community to think about what can we do

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Speaker 2: to contribute to the solution to the housing crisis.

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Speaker 1: Ultimately, the people who have moved into these are there

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Speaker 1: temporarily because obviously the building is going to be developed

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Speaker 1: in the future that'll be that. So what happens to

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Speaker 1: them beyond that point? Do you look for new developments

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Speaker 1: for them to move in? Other words, are they going

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Speaker 1: to be in temporary accommodation forever or they trying to

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Speaker 1: find permanent homes they can move out rental accommodation.

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Speaker 2: Like any rental accommodation, it's for a period of time.

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Speaker 2: We've managed these properties for a number of years and

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Speaker 2: as a community housing provider, we also work with the

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Speaker 2: tenants to find longer term solutions. So we have these

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Speaker 2: two projects house women over fifty five, which is one

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Speaker 2: of the fastest growing demographics facing homelessness. All of them

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Speaker 2: have moved into longer term housing solutions. What meanwhile, use

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Speaker 2: is provided is for a period of time six months,

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Speaker 2: eighteen months, two years, affordable secure housing while we work

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Speaker 2: towards a longer term solution. And that's what happens in

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Speaker 2: the private market anyway. Housing to people may live in

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Speaker 2: a property for a couple of years, or they may

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Speaker 2: live there for twenty years. There is that sort of

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Speaker 2: turnover all right, and it gives people affordable housing for

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Speaker 2: a period of time. And look for developers like I say,

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Speaker 2: there's financial benefits, but I think the main benefit is

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Speaker 2: knowing that you're contributing to a housing solution during a

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Speaker 2: housing crisis in the Australian community.

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Speaker 1: Explore absolutely so link went was you as you said,

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Speaker 1: you can supply somebody who's thinking, well, that's not a

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Speaker 1: bad idea, I'd like to get involved.

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Speaker 3: You give them all the information they need. You have

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Speaker 3: a look at the property.

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Speaker 2: Absolutely yeah, that's how we did it. We didn't enter

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Speaker 2: it lightly. We looked at the properties, we looked at

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Speaker 2: what we needed. Are they suitable as rental accommodation, how

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Speaker 2: long will they be available? And then if it ticks

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Speaker 2: all the boxes for us, for our tenants, for the

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Speaker 2: developer and our partners, then we go ahead with the project.

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Speaker 2: And I think it's that blended expertise. Developers have got

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Speaker 2: certain expertise we have. We also work with partners who

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Speaker 2: support people, so together we come up with much better solution.

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Speaker 2: So I would encourage them to consider it, to talk

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Speaker 2: some experts. There's no commitment required and there may be

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Speaker 2: a benefit and if there is to all parties, you know,

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Speaker 2: this is something that can really contribute to a solution.

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Speaker 2: We know that there are you know, about a million

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Speaker 2: homes sitting vacant. You know some of them are you know,

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Speaker 2: SuDS as night, some of them people might be on

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Speaker 2: holidays or something like that. But some of those homes

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Speaker 2: are awaiting redevelopmental people. Yes, so if they're available, habitable

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Speaker 2: and worthwhile, it's worth exploring, Margaret, is part of a

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Speaker 2: contribution to a solution.

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Speaker 3: For your time this morning, really appreciate it.

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Speaker 2: Thank you very much, Matthew.

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Speaker 1: Margaret Malkovich, chief customer officer, Link Wentworth on calls for

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Speaker 1: developers to make use of vacant properties to help people

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Speaker 1: facing homelessness.

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Speaker 3: Not a bad idea,