How did you first hear about Housing All Australians?
Soraya: I first heard about Housing All Australians almost two years ago now, just after joining Interface.
We had supported a project a couple of years earlier, and were invited to support The Emerald St project in South Melbourne.
We were happy to donate carpet and get involved in that project, which then led to a further conversation with Housing All Australians to understand more about their focus and purpose, and how they approach the repurposing of existing buildings into safe, sustainable, supportive housing for vulnerable Australians.
What did you think about the concept when you first heard about it?
Soraya: I was blown away, but it was confronting as well. We know that there’s a housing crisis, but it’s not always front of mind. And to hear about this particular cohort of older Australian women over the age of 55 who are at risk of at homelessness or already experiencing homelessness, factored in with all of these empty, underutilised buildings across the country that could create this almost instantaneous solution, it just blew me away.
I just look at an empty building now and only see it as potential. That we could be utilising it. And then I think of all the red tape and the delays around developments and building timelines. It three to four years before a new building goes through approval to tender to completion before residents can move in. All the while these buildings that are just sitting there empty. If there are delays, maybe it’s sitting empty for another 5 years. They could be turned into something at least, in the interim.
We have a saying at Interface, which is “the most sustainable building is the one that’s already built”. Why knock something down and recreate it when we can create something that’s going to make an impact and support people who need that help now?
What projects have you been involved in so far?
Soraya: We did Gardenhouse in Box Hill, which was the very first project, which was before my time. We donated carpet and flooring to that project. Then we did the Emerald St project in South Melbourne, as well as The Cocoon project with Bridge It in St Kilda. And now the Inner-West project in Sydney, which is our 4th with Housing All Australians.
With each project, each step of the way, we’ve become closer and more involved, and now we’re a HAA national corporate partner, which is really exciting.
What kinds of goods and services have you provided to our projects so far?
Soraya: We’ve predominately donated carpet tile and some of our vinyl plank. We do these amazing projects for our clients where often, you know, we might do a hotel project and there’s an excess. Or we’ve made too much, or maybe the client has changed their mind the last minute, and so we get left with this with this beautiful, perfectly good product, which is first quality, sitting in our warehouse, but it might not be what another project specifically needs.
Partnering with Housing All Australians creates a great opportunity for us to repurpose and divert this product away from landfill and give it a new life again. When you typically think about carpet tile, you might not always think about it as a residential kind of kind of product, but it’s come a long way. And now what might have been originally planned for a workplace or a hospitality project is now going to create safe, comfortable flooring in residential homes as well. And our LVP (Luxury Vinyl Plank) is a really resilient, durable product that looks like timber, so it still creates that home like feeling.
Given the environment on these projects, and having multiple people moving in and out, you want to have something that is going to be durable and resilient, so I think both those products are a great fit for these kinds of projects.
What was the workload like when collaborating on these projects?
Soraya: The workload is quite minimal. I think that’s what’s important. It certainly the comes down to collaboration. There’ll be myself involved, a couple of people in our sales team, and then it’s communication through approvals.
When we’re donating goods, it does need to go through an approval process. So, we’ll get that signed off and approved through our senior leadership team. And this involves our Vice President Commercial, Supply Chain Manager, Finance Director, HR, and Marketing, to ensure we’re aligned as an organisation.
And then it goes through customer service to organise the products, put it on a truck, send it out to the contractor or partner for that project and then we’ll work with them and stay connected to ensure that it’s a seamless process. In some cases, we’ve been out there helping and installing the carpet tile with our team members as well.
How do you feel about the homelessness and the housing crisis in Australia?
Soraya: I think as our population grows, we’re going to continue to be faced with this significant challenge and cost of living pressure. There are so many complexities that contribute to homelessness and risk of homelessness.
It’s confronting and it’s something that isn’t just an issue that falls on the responsibility of our government.
It affects our whole community, the people that we work with, everyone knows someone who has been touched by or is connected to someone who’s been impacted by these current financial pressures.
For women in particular there are a lot of complexities, that might not be initially front of mind. Especially if they’re single mothers. Maybe they can only work part-time.
Maybe they don’t have the same access to superannuation, or the same rate of pay, or the same stage of their career due to taking time off with their children. All the while trying to secure rental accommodation. Then after all that, they can get looked over against other possible tenants, because they have dependants, or their financial situation doesn’t seem as secure as other candidates from the real estate agent’s perspective.
That constant weight, and that looming pressure and stress, just to secure access to a secure foundation upon which to start rebuilding their life. It’s a cycle. If they don’t have a home, how can they focus on healthcare? On education? On securing stable, long-term employment? All of which they need give them, and their children, a secure future. So, what happens if they can’t get that initial access to the basic foundation that is housing? It’s a significant challenge. And that doesn’t even touch on the topic of domestic violence, which is the biggest contributor to homelessness for women and children that we still face in Australia.
There’s a lot of great organisations out there that are working to help and support these women, but it’s not changing the fact that they’re in the position to begin with, and that the demand is surging.
What encouraged you personally to get involved with what Interface and Housing All Australians were already building together?
Soraya: I saw just what an amazing value alignment there was between our two organisations. We do try and do as much as we can within the community and donate product where we can. But what I really saw here with the opportunity for this partnership was value alignment around what you’re doing to support vulnerable Australians through repurposing housing. There’s a lot of synergy for us as a business around our sustainability focus and our community focus as well.
Then on a personal side, hearing about the impact, particularly for older women, that really resonated with me having seen my own mother go through that when I was a child, and she still faces challenges to this day around housing. When you’re a 58 years old, what does long-term stable and secure housing look like? So, I made it my focus to champion this within the business, within our sales team, and within our leadership team so that we could create more of a formal ongoing partnership with housing all Australians, and donating materials and goods is just one part of that.
But I think there’s the flow on effect of that now that encompasses everything we do as a team too, and it helps them feel more aligned outside of the commercial transactions that we make within the building space.
You mentioned your mum and the struggles that she had in terms of her housing situation. Could you tell me more about her experience of homelessness and how that impacted you as a child?
Soraya: It started when I was 6 years old, when my parents separated. I think between the age of 6 and 15 we lived in maybe eight different houses? She was a single mum, and she didn’t finish school so she didn’t have a formal education. So, after the separation, she was now navigating the social housing world with 2 young children. When you don’t have stable employment or money, trying to find a stable home for your children is really, really stressful and unfortunately it does become a bit of a cycle where, because of our financial situation, we then faced eviction.
We moved from house to house, having to pack up our lives so many times, and that creates a lot of trauma where you’re constantly wondering is this going to be my forever home? Knowing it‘s just a means to be able to keep going, before all of a sudden it just gets taken away from you again and you‘ve got to pack your life back up and move on to the next house. Unfortunately, in my mum’s case, by the time we reached our teenage years, it had really taken a toll on her mental health and my sisters and I had to go live with our dad. My mum continued to struggle through the challenges of finding stable housing, breakdowns of relationships, and domestic violence. It culminated in her ending up in a lodge, a boarding house, for a period of time.
When you’re faced with that situation, you feel like you don’t have anywhere to go. You’re overwhelmed, and you don’t have anywhere to put your belongings. So you pack up your life, the little you can fit in a few small bags, and just go into a housing lodge, so that eventually you have somewhere that your daughters can come and visit you. Knowing that it might only be a one-year option, and that then you might be faced with having to find different accommodation after that. She’s 58 years old now and she still lives in a boarding house. She’s very comfortable, and has made some close friendships and community there within her boarding house.
But people come and go, and she’s probably been one of the longest residents there now, and we know that at some point we’ll be faced with having to find another option for mum, now that we’re older and we’re adults. But right now for her, that’s in the too hard basket. She doesn’t want to have to think about that again because she’s had to do it so many times, but it is a reality that unfortunately she faces, and she’s approaching the age of 60, no superannuation, on a pension, and doesn’t have the rental referrals that other people would have. So, it becomes very difficult when you don’t have a family network. But now that we’re older, at least she has me and my sister. But a lot of parents dont want to lean on their children like that either.
It’s a very challenging situation. When I first heard about the work Housing All Australians were doing, and I saw the screening of the undercover documentary, it connected with my family’s own lived experience. My mum isn’t living in a car, but we have been in that situation before, where you pack your whole life, everything you can carry, into the back of your car without any real sense of security. You don’t know what the next few months will look like, or what your housing situation will be. My mum isn’t in a car now, but we have been. She’s been in that position before, where you know you’ve packed all of your life, as much as you can take with you, into the back of your car without any real certainty around you. Or what the next 12 months of housing looks like for me.
What was it like to live in housing instability when you were younger?
Soraya: It was hard. I think mum did a good job for as long as she could to try and shelter us from that, and we could still go when we needed to our dad’s house. So she did the best she could to support us and to keep us with her. I guess she sheltered us from what she was working through, but we knew financially it was really, really difficult. Seeing what your school friends were doing and the lives that they were living and the holidays that they were going on and you’re just asking for a simple thing like a bus ticket.
I remember seeing Mum struggle with that idea of opening her purse up and trying to find a few dollars, but I was young, so I didn’t know she must have been thinking “OK, I’ve got to make sure that what I have in terms of the money this week can pay for food, rent, petrol so I can take my children to school”. I guess as a child, ignorance is bliss.
But as you get older, into the teenage years you become more aware of it. And as the oldest daughter, I probably felt frustrated as well, which is a hard thing to go back and admit now, because you just wanted the stability and seeing my mom challenged with that, it was really difficult. So for anyone who isn’t experiencing this directly, it’s easy for them to sit back and go “well just do this” or “just get a job” or “makes these changes”. Things that might seem like simple solutions or an easy fix. But they don’t understand the complexity of what someone is going through, and what’s got them to that point.
And out of all of the factors I mentioned, housing is just the most foundational, fundamental piece of security. If you’ve constantly got that overarching stress of “how am I going to pay for this” or “do I have enough to cover rent this week” you can’t even think about the other things like healthcare, birthday presents, because you’re just focused on trying to maintain the roof over your head. And then if the roof goes, everything else goes with it, and you have to start from scratch. From my experience with my mum, healthcare is the first part that gets deprioritised because things like going to a doctor’s appointment are just nowhere near as high on the priority list, which then goes on to cause so many other challenges later on
What kind of accommodation has your mum stayed in over these years? Is it similar to kind of what you’ve seen Housing All Australians and their Community Housing Provider partners put together with the projects?
Soraya: It certainly hasn’t been as well organised or supportive. I think in one of the first boarding houses that I remember mum going into, it provided a safe room and a bed, but there wasn’t the wraparound support that she would have benefited from at the time. It was kind of like ”well, at least you’ve got a place to go, and you’re not on the street or in your car” but that’s it. We’re talking 15-20 years ago now. So, I think these services have come a long way. But back then you didn’t have that support and structure and systems in place to help someone get back on track, which means they can easily fall back into the situation that got them there in the 1st place.
I think what Housing All Australians is doing now, partnering with a provider that is delivering ongoing, on-site support for people, is the big difference I see, that I wish had been there more for my mum and our family back then.
Especially at the inner-west project that was recently completed with Women’s Community Shelters, and being able to keep families together and provide that consistency in a place that doesn’t feel institutional, and instead, warm, welcoming and supportive. If that was around for us when I was younger, it would have given us a sense of hope. Reflecting on past experiences, I wouldn’t say that first step we took into crisis/transitional accommodation felt like a positive step. It was an essential step, but I can see the difference in a facility like this.
Why should other businesses get involved with Housing All Australians projects?
Soraya: When everyone knows there’s a greater purpose within the organisation, they feel more aligned and connected to the place they work. It’s a big part of it is our culture, and it makes it a great place to work when employees feel connected (to something bigger). It’s been incredibly rewarding not just for the direct team involved in these projects, but also the flow on that it’s now had with our wider team.
Sales, Customer Service, our factory production team, etc. They get to see what they’re working on, day in and day out, go to a greater purpose. They love it, and it gives them a greater sense of connection and fulfilment in their job. If you’re thinking about it, just do it. Housing All Australians makes it really easy. Some people don‘t know where to start, so it could be as easy doing just one project to start with, and you can build on it from there and turn it into something really wonderful in terms of a partnership and connection and a network moving forward.
What was it like working with other value-aligned project partners?
Soraya: As a global organisation and an Australian business, we put a lot of consideration into the charities that we work with, as well as that value alignment piece we discussed before. But it’s also about who you get to collaborate with along the way. We’ve made some great connections with builders, for example, like Better Living Group on the Emerald street project or FDC at Inner-West. What begins as a project partnership can later develop into ongoing commercial opportunities and connections.
Interface have also worked with Quest and collaborated with Dulux, who are other partners we’ve connected with through the Housing All Australians network. We’re all sort of working with the same networks and customers, so we can actually share future opportunities as well. It becomes a really nice industry collaboration. And then you have events like the one that was hosted back in October, where you get to further expand your network and meet other like-minded people who have been working in the industry for a long time and are wanting a bit more out of it. It’s great to work on these wonderful projects and contribute to the skyline of our cities, while also adding new industry connections to your network that you know are advantageous professionally as well.
Any closing messages you’d like to share?
Soraya: It’s been a real honour and privilege to be able to do the work that we’ve done so far with Housing All Australians. It’s something that we’re all really, really proud of, and we’re looking forward to being able to support future projects. It’s just a start, but we’re making a difference, and we can’t wait to see where else it goes and all the wonderful people that you will continue to support as well. So thank you.