By WENQIAN ZHANG

Not-for-profit community housing organisation HomeGround Real Estate is one of eight organisations to share more than $1 million in free advertising offered by Yarra Trams through its inaugural Community Partnership Program.

Launch Housing acting CEO and HomeGround designer Heather Holst said the company’s vision was to reinvest revenue to help people who were homeless find a place to live.   

“HomeGround Real Estate offers lower rent houses to people who are homeless or at risk of being homeless,” Ms Holst said.

“We do this by reinvesting the revenue from property management fees into Launch Housing to support people experiencing homelessness.”

Ms Holst said advertising with Yarra Trams would help build HomeGround’s business.

“Advertising with Yarra Trams will bring in more landlords to rent with us and alleviate the high demand for property among low income earners and people who are experiencing financial difficulties.”

According to ABS figures, one  in 200 people experience homelessness every night, and more than half became homeless as a result of domestic violence, financial difficulties or a housing crisis.

The National Affordable Housing Agreement provides about $250 million every year to help and promote homelessness initiatives such as Commonwealth Rent Assistance, the National Rental Affordability Scheme and the Housing Affordability Fund.

National Shelter executive officer Adrian Pisarski said there would always be a need for subsidies, however questions remained about their efficiency.

“I think the organisations that are in the best place to negotiate are community housing providers because they are well placed to be working with the government on what subsidy they require and then contract and work with private sectors,” he said.

“Long-term plans could be executed through the creation of a set of measures on subsidies and incentives and will ultimately curtail homelessness.”

Last financial year, HomeGround Real Estate managed 326 properties in Melbourne, 132 of which were offered to tenants below the market rate.

Ms Holst said the group was excited to be part of the inaugural program and grateful for the generosity of everyone involved. 

“We hope this serves as a platform to inform Melburnians about how they can help end homelessness through our not-for-profit real estate agency,” she said. 

Aimed at encouraging local non-for-profit organisations to build a more diverse and inclusive Melbourne, Yarra Trams launched their Community Partnership Program in December 2017.

Under the program, Yarra Trams provides a $1 million advertising package to eight organisations, chosen annually.

The not-for profit organisations that applied for the program were assessed on their diversity and inclusion initiatives.

The selected eight are now able to access both tram wrap and face placements for three months.

Other organisations that are benefiting from the program this year include the Arts Project Australia, Charcoal Lane, and Fair Share. 

A spokesperson from Yarra Trams said: “We work closely with multiple organisations that provide people experiencing homelessness with the support they need.”