Through the Amplify Project, the Property Industry Foundation is looking beyond the immediate challenge of building more homes to ask a broader question: how can the property industry help address some of the systemic barriers contributing to homelessness?
One of the opportunities we have been exploring is Meanwhile Use — putting temporarily vacant or underutilised property to productive use while it is awaiting redevelopment, refurbishment or another permanent use.
Over the past year, the Foundation has invested in the development of the Meanwhile Use Platform, a national digital marketplace designed to connect property owners with charities, community housing providers and social enterprises looking for space. The aim is simple: make it easier for organisations with temporarily available assets to find experienced partners who can turn those spaces into housing, services and other forms of community benefit.
But technology alone will not remove the barriers to Meanwhile Use.
That is why the Foundation has also been working with National Shelter, Habitat for Humanity Australia and organisations from across the property and community sectors to establish the National Alliance for Meanwhile Use.
The Alliance brings together organisations with extensive practical experience of Meanwhile Use, including TOGA and Coronation, alongside housing, homelessness and community organisations. It creates a national forum for sharing evidence and best practice, identifying and addressing systemic barriers, advocating for supportive policy and building the partnerships needed to make Meanwhile Use easier to implement at scale.
Importantly, this is not about presenting Meanwhile Use as an alternative to building the permanent social and affordable housing Australia desperately needs. It is about making better use of the assets we already have while those longer-term solutions are being planned and delivered.
The potential was highlighted this week in an article in the Sydney Morning Herald, which examined vacant housing across Sydney and some of the remarkable outcomes already being achieved through Meanwhile Use. TOGA’s residential projects alone have provided more than 181,000 bed nights since 2017, demonstrating what can happen when property owners and community organisations work together differently.
This project demonstrates how the Property Industry Foundation is delivering systems change in practice by identifying an underused resource, bringing the right sectors together, and creating the tools, partnerships and frameworks that can turn individual projects into a more scalable response.
This project demonstrates how the Property Industry Foundation is delivering systems change in practice by identifying an underused resource, bringing the right sectors together, and creating the tools, partnerships and frameworks that can turn individual projects into a more scalable response.
Contact JV Douglas at the Property Industry Foundation to find out how your asset could be activated through Meanwhile Use to create meaningful social impact while it would otherwise sit idle.
