Trades students build modular homes for women rebuilding after domestic violence

The first modular home built in the Homes for Help project, a partnership between Delacombe-based construction training organisation Platinum Institute Australia, Women's Property Initiative and Michelson Alexander, could be handed over ready for its first tenant by mid 2023.

The scheme is the brainchild of Platinum chief executive Damian Faulkhead who realised the structures that his pre-apprentice students were building could be put to better use.

Until now the homes they were constructing in the workshop were knocked down, with some components recycled for future use and some discarded.

"We've got pre-apprenticeship kids doing simulated stuff then knocking it down so I thought maybe we can get these kids to do real projects under supervision under my builder's licence," Mr Faulkhead said.

A pilot program will see students build a modular house under the supervision of registered builder-trainers, that will be trucked and placed on land and finished with landscaping and everything needed to make a comfortable and safe home.

While the first pilot home will be gifted to Women's Property Initiative, in a broader rollout WPI would buy the home at cost price and manage it as part of their affordable housing stock, with a local agency such as Cafs partnering with WPI to place women in need in to the home.

With five, 16-week courses run at Platinum each year Mr Faulkhead said they could potentially deliver five to 10 homes a year.

But Mr Faulkhead said community support was also needed to help solve the problem of family violence.

The pre-apprenticeship students, many of whom come from disadvantaged backgrounds or have disengaged from education, learn skills from various building trades throughout the course and Mr Faulkhead said the organisation's apprentices would also likely work on the builds as part of their assessments.

Last month the Ballarat Foundation's Vital Signs report showed the rate of family violence common assault in Ballarat in 2021 was 24.2 per 10,000 persons, about 12 per cent higher than Victoria's rate of 21.5 per 10,000 persons.

"Ultimately we would be able to get this built quite reasonably, especially with suppliers who want to come on board and try to help us out," Mr Faulkhead said.

Current products needed include windows, tiles, bathroom products, appliances or anything to help in construction and finishing.

A roundtable was held in Ballarat last week bringing together the Homes for Help partners along with state government, council, welfare agencies, education and training providers, building and construction companies and others interested in being part of the project.

Mr Faulkhead said he already had commitments from Maxitrans, Eureka Concrete, Mitre 10, Integra and many other local suppliers and manufacturers who want to help.

"I really would love to keep this all Ballarat suppliers and Ballarat manufacturers ... as something we can hopefully achieve together as a community," he said.

He was hopeful that if the Ballarat Homes for Help project proved successful, it could be replicated across other training organisations in different parts of the state.

One of the first people that Mr Faulkhead spoke to about his idea was mate Steve Michelson, from Michelson Alexander, who had an existing relationship with Natasha Liddell from Women's Property Initiative and the idea quickly took shape.

If the pilot program is successful, Mr Michelson said the next step was to talk to government.

"We need to talk to the Victorian government and get them to amend the terms of the big housing build to allow for this type of model of social housing to be able to be funded by government and roll out the project on a much larger scale so we are also supporting the training of disadvantaged and disengaged young people," Mr Michelson said.

"I think this could transform the way in which we build and maintain social housing in Australia.

IN OTHER NEWS

"If we are going to tackle family violence we've got to do it as a community and this project provides the perfect opportunity for the community to rally together to all chip in to actually produce a house."

Women's Property Initiative's Natasha Liddell said the homes would be "life changing" for women.

"The big challenge for us in being able to provide more homes for women and families is always the cost. We are heavily reliant on government funding and philanthropy," she said.

"To have a project come to the table that can tick all of the boxes that Platinum does to help deliver homes at lower cost by what they bring through using student contribution to the project ... is a real benefit to us.

"And it's really wonderful the amount of goodwill and interest from the local community in the project, but we need that support from people to commit to the project through either materials or services in kind or cash donations."

Have you tried The Courier's app? It can be downloaded here.