A Tasmanian hotel business has donated approximately $500,000 worth of furniture to assist the fit out of a new transitional housing facility for women at risk of homelessness in Hobart.
Amelie House, in Hobart, is operated jointly by the St Vincent de Paul Society (Vinnies) and Hobart City Mission, and will provide accommodation for up to 43 women facing, or at risk of, homelessness — a demographic bearing a significant brunt of Tasmania’s housing crisis.
Housed in Hobart’s city centre, on Warwick Street, the site has been vacant since men’s transitional and crisis accommodation, Bethlehem House, relocated to Harrington Street in November 2023.
Now, Somerset on the Pier’s furniture donation has helped get Amelie House ready for its new life — at a significantly lower cost.
‘Simple discussion’ led to donation
Ascott Limited Australia is the company that owns Somerset on the Pier.
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Photo shows Photographed from above, a woman in a sparkly pink top strokes her daughter’s hair, who is burying her face into her neck.
Tasmania is in the throes of a housing crisis, and women and children are particularly vulnerable, according to a recent report.
General manager of brand and environmental, social and governance, Anthea Dimitrakopoulos said it was a “simple discussion” that led to the furniture donation — which included more than 2,000 items, from beds and TVs to crockery and white goods.
“We turned around and said, ‘guess what, we’re closing down our amazing property… for a big [refurbishment] and we have a whole bunch of beds and furniture that we can repurpose,” Ms Dimitrakopoulos said.
“And rather than that going to landfill, why can’t we repurpose really good quality furniture so that Vinnies can utilise that?’
“From that conversation, everybody mobilised.”
With close ties to Housing All Australians, an organisation that engages businesses to help deliver housing for Australians in need, Ms Dimitrakopoulos said it “made no sense” for women and children to be faced with living in cars, because safe housing was out of reach.
She said this donation was one way the company could do its part to help.
“In our roles, it’s about doing better and doing good.”
She said the company’s businesses always tried to rehouse their surplus furniture, but that it was “always difficult”.
“I think this model is something that all businesses should do, absolutely. Especially in the hotel industry.”
Vinnies Tasmania state president Corey McGrath said the significance of the donation couldn’t be undervalued, with it accounting for a majority of the furniture in Amelie House.
“Without that furniture, essentially … we just have sleeping bags on the floor,” he said.
“To be able to put some furniture in gives those women some independence and dignity, rather than just [going] ‘here’s somewhere to sleep’.”
Amelie House has also been significantly supported through help from the Neill family’s Select Foundation, which previously funded the purchase of the 18 self-contained accommodation pods at the rear of the building, to keep them as permanent housing stock.
The foundation has also contributed towards renovations on-site.
Corey McGrath said, without private support, services like Amelie House would not be possible.
“Without Bruce [Neill] and people like that stepping up, we wouldn’t be able to do anything,” he said. Hobart apartments for vulnerable women one step closer to reality
Photo shows A multi-storey building higher than other buildings in a commercial area of a CBD.
After being knocked back in May, a social housing development for vulnerable older women has the backing of Hobart City Council after the proponent slashed its assessment of how much extra traffic the building would generate.
He said while donations from individuals and families were always gratefully received, private companies had been able to offer donations of a different scale to get this housing off the ground.
“Vinnies relies on 10, 000 people to be able to bring up the same amount of money that Bruce’s foundation has delivered.”
With plans to further develop the site in the long term, Mr McGrath said offering traditional housing in the interim played a key role in stopping the cycle of homelessness.
But he acknowledged these 43 beds were only “a drop in the ocean” compared with the demand across the state.
In its 2023-24 annual report, the Hobart Women’s Shelter highlighted an increasing demand on its services, with eight out of ten women and children being turned away because it didn’t have room for them.
Meanwhile, a 2023 economic report, commissioned by the government and produced by Hobart Women’s Shelter in partnership with Shelter Tasmania, estimated that approximately 604 Tasmanian women were becoming homeless each year after leaving a violent partner, while 333 were returning to one.
The state’s most recent housing waitlist data shows in December 2024, there were 4,866 applicants on the housing register, with the average wait time for priority applicants 80 weeks.
“There’s always more demand than beds,” Mr McGrath said.
“We just do every little bit that we can, new project after new project.”
He said Amelie House would provide housing and food initially, but the long term goal was to secure funding to increase in-house services.
The Tasmanian government has contributed $1.2 million towards Amelie House, for its operational costs.
Government MP Simon Behrakis said the government was committed to its pledge to build 10,000 social and affordable homes.
“We obviously understand there’s always more to be done, and we continue to look at how we can provide and how we can support Tasmanians into a home, and into safe accommodation.”
Corporate responsibility key
The linking element between Ascott Limited and Vinnies Tasmania, Housing All Australians chief executive Dan McKenna echoed Mr McGrath’s sentiments about the important role the private sector had to play in tackling social issues.
“We see huge problems across our cities, especially in Hobart of people sleeping rough, or people experiencing homelessness,” he said.
“For us, it’s about what can we actually do. It’s about taking action; it’s about pulling together resources and not sort of putting up our hands and saying ‘this is all too hard, this is all too big’.”
“It’s all of our problem if we’re not housing all of our community.”
