Backing Bridge It as a Major Project Partner for Haven House St Kilda (Cocoon 2)
The Property Industry Foundation is proud to announce that, through its Haven Project, it is supporting Haven House St Kilda (Cocoon 2), Bridge It’s second supportive housing community in St Kilda as a major project partner. Haven House St Kilda (Cocoon 2) will transform a once-derelict apartment building into 14 self-contained homes for young women and gender-diverse young people impacted by homelessness or the out-of-home-care system.
The Foundation’s support comes at an important point in the project. More than 30 businesses across Melbourne’s property and construction industries have already contributed time, expertise, labour, products and services pro bono or at significantly reduced cost, including builder Cobild, architect K2LD and project manager Turner & Townsend. The Property Industry Foundation’s funding will help Bridge It cover the significant remaining items that couldn’t be secured pro bono, closing the final gaps needed to get the building ready to become home.
Why this matters to our industry
Youth homelessness is not an isolated social issue, it’s a symptom of structural pressures the property and construction sector knows intimately: constrained housing supply, rental affordability stress, planning system settings, and intergenerational inequity in housing access. As the industry that shapes housing supply and urban outcomes, we have both the credibility and the influence to be part of the solution — not only at a project level, but in the policy conversations that determine what gets built, where, and for whom.
Secure housing is foundational economic infrastructure, underpinning workforce participation, productivity, and long-term market health. Haven House St Kilda (Cocoon 2) shows what’s possible when a generous property owner — who leased the building to Bridge It for $1 a year over 20 years — is followed by an entire industry rallying around a shared goal.
What it means for young people
Each resident will have their own self-contained apartment for 12 to 18 months, plus access to the shared Cocoon Room and Bridge It’s holistic, trauma-informed support. Designed to feel like a home, not a service, Haven House St Kilda (Cocoon 2) gives young people the choice and stability to build life skills, healthy relationships and a path toward education, employment or independence. Over its 20-year lease, around 240 young people are expected to call it home.
Kate Mills, CEO of the Property Industry Foundation, said: “Our industry builds the systems that shape who has access to housing and who doesn’t. Supporting Haven House St Kilda (Cocoon 2) as a major partner is about closing the gaps that pro bono support alone can’t reach, and showing what’s possible when our sector puts its skills and influence behind housing solutions that last.”
