Adorning the entryway of a structure in downtown Melbourne is a shiny art piece featuring a deep night sky filled with shining stars.
Maybe it states that this is a spot where one can once more embrace dreams – or perhaps achieve a restful night’s slumber.
Past the starry entrance hall lies a six-story structure owned by the city council. Renamed Make Room, this edifice now consists of 50 residences designed for individuals previously facing homelessness. Prior to its refurbishment, the building served as a storage facility for the City of Melbourne. Inside those vacant spaces, old parade floats and relics from previous Moomba Festivals gathered dust, occupying what had become an unused area.
Amidst the ongoing housing crisis, with numerous commercial properties standing idle, the Make Room initiative presents itself as a plan to transform these underused structures into livable homes and simultaneously reduce carbon footprints.
And during a period when certain local governments are
criminalising homelessness
Make Room is seeking a resolution.
James King, the CEO of Unison Housing—a not-for-profit organisation behind Make Room—states that he hasn’t come across any similar initiatives where a local government body has spearheaded tackling housing scarcity and homelessness like this. He explains, “The council provided the property and guaranteed the whole project.”
Addressing housing shortages
The empty building Make Room took over is a relic of a bygone young city. These days it is dwarfed by the glassy skyscrapers that surround it. When it was built as an electricity supply building it helped power "the expansion of the city", according to heritage review documents. Now, it might help create the city of the future again.
Nearly one-fifth of Melbourne’s office spaces remain unoccupied, as reported by the Property Council of Australia—the highest central business district (CBD) office vacancy rate nationally. When the data was compiled in January, the overall vacancy rate for both CBD and non-CBD offices across the country stood at 14.7 percent.
In terms of sustainability, it’s better to reuse and recycle an existing building instead of tearing down the old structure and constructing a new one. Constructing anew consumes additional resources and generates higher levels of embodied carbon—the carbon footprint linked to both the materials used and the construction activities involved.
However, transforming office spaces, especially commercial buildings, into residential areas presents several challenges.
Gavin Salt from i2C Architects, who were behind the design of Make Room, highlights that enhancing the building’s accessibility and thermal efficiency under a heritage restriction posed significant challenges for the project. However, Salt notes that the structure came with certain advantages such as "generous ceiling heights" and "[easy] access to daylight...[alongside an adaptable] layout and structural framework," features not commonly found in numerous office spaces.
The City of Melbourne has put in place regulations aimed at motivating property owners to convert idle mid-rise office structures into more productive spaces—while enhancing their energy performance. According to Melbourne Lord Mayor Nick Reece, these changes play an essential role in tackling issues like increasing residential shortages. Additionally, this initiative aligns with the city's objective of achieving complete reliance on renewable sources for power by 2030 and attaining carbon neutrality by 2040.
In 2023, Lord Mayor Sally Capp stated that commercial structures were responsible for "nearly 60 percent of the city’s carbon emissions." She added, "To achieve our climate targets, Melbourne must refurbish approximately 80 buildings annually. At present, we manage an average of only seven such projects."
Throughout the county, the commercial construction industry accounts for approximately
25 percent of total electricity usage and 10 percent of all carbon emissions in Australia
as stated by the federal environment department.
Housing First... sort of
Make Room, costing $24.9 million—$9.1 million covered by the council with the remainder funded by the state government and private donors—offers individuals 12-month tenancies in compact, self-contained studios alongside assistance from staff aimed at helping them establish stable lives away from homelessness (services include specialized healthcare like mental health treatment, podiatry, physical therapy, nutritional counseling, and dental care).
The Victorian government has allocated $5.2 million over two years for on-site assistance and property management. However, it didn’t address specific queries from ABC regarding whether it will fund Make Room once the initial operational funding runs out.
Make Room adopts numerous tenets of the Housing First approach pioneered in the U.S. during the '90s, offering instant permanent accommodation to individuals facing homelessness before providing comprehensive support services around them. This method refrains from setting prerequisites like compliance with mental health treatments or substance abuse programmes for entry into their programme.
Celine Kostense, who leads Unison’s Housing First initiative, notes that when individuals “aren’t preoccupied with ‘Where will I lay my head tonight?,’” they’re better able to concentrate on various aspects of their life. This could involve rebuilding relationships with family members, tackling health concerns or overcoming addiction, mastering tenancy responsibilities, pursuing employment or further education, or engaging more deeply within their local communities.
Kostense, who hails from the Netherlands and has experience with Housing First initiatives there, recalls not forgetting the moment when she handed over apartment keys to an individual in Amsterdam for the very first time. She explains, “It wasn’t merely about providing a home; it was about transforming her entire existence... This experience showed me that I could genuinely collaborate with someone to build a fresh chapter of life.”
According to a
2022 evidence review
According to the Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute, the Housing First approach has been deemed "very effective" for offering housing stability to individuals who have experienced homelessness, as well as being a "fiscally efficient" method to assist those with intricate requirements.
But King calls Make Room a "quasi" Housing First project because it doesn't provide permanent housing — possibly the most fundamental aspect of the model. "We're applying Housing First principles in the sense that it's trauma informed, it's immediate, there aren't conditions on [people] moving into the building and we address a range of other needs once they're housed, but that long-term permanent, secure housing I think is a really critical element [of Housing First]."
A question mark looms over the heads of the residents at Make Room: where will they head to next?
'Not in the business of making people homeless'
Make Room aims to transition residents into long-term accommodation within 12 months, but King says the time frame is flexible. "If that housing and support is not available come the 12 months, I'm not in the business of making people homeless again. So those residents will stay," he says.
According to King, one of Make Room’s goals is to reduce the stigma among housing providers who view past rough sleepers as “a difficult group to accommodate.” He adds, “Our hope is that residents’ stay at Make Room will instill many Community Housing providers with the belief that these individuals can maintain their tenancies successfully, adhere to their lease agreements, and become valuable members of those communities."
The bigger issue remains unsolved so far: there just isn’t sufficient housing stock. Currently, over 55,000 individuals are queued for social housing in Victoria alone. Furthermore, even if such accommodations were accessible, numerous tenants would require ongoing support services post-tenancy at Make Room, according to King.
The initiative by the City of Melbourne to secure funding for a route out of homelessness stands in stark contrast to local governments aiming to punish individuals who are homeless. Notably, Moreton Bay Council has recently taken such an approach.
stated that all homeless camping on public property would be prohibited
and then
started tossing the tents from homeless camps into trash haulers
In the neighbouring city of Brisbane, Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner
threatened to relocate actions against homeless individuals
. And in Melbourne,
The Age reported
The councillors of the City of Port Phillip are looking into amending local regulations to prevent individuals from sleepingrough on council-owned properties. Despite this, the City of Port Phillip is also committing $5.1 million towards the creation of new developments.
26 social housing units
.)
Melbourne Lord Mayor Nick Reece states, “We’re facing a severe housing and homelessness crisis... everyone needs to contribute to developing and implementing solutions.” Currently overseeing a city with approximately 6,000 fewer affordable rental properties than needed, Reece warns, “Should we take no action, this shortage could increase nearly fourfold to over 23,000 by 2036.”
According to Salt, Make Room illustrates “the potential of transforming commercial areas into living spaces,” and he aims to encourage similar initiatives with this project. He emphasizes, “It’s crucial to explore novel methods for delivering additional housing swiftly and effectively.” His associate Claire Bowles adds, “There is significant risk we’ll fall short of our environmental pledges unless we hasten the adoption of repurposing vacant and inefficient structures. This approach isn’t just vital for ensuring adequacy and reducing embedded carbon; it’s equally important for rapidly generating necessary housing and community facilities at reduced expense.”
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