Transitional Community Housing (TCH) is a recently established charity with Deductible Gift Recipient (DGR) status.
TCH are building on efforts to provide housing for women in need of support to secure stable housing. We are supported by Wesley Community Housing, a not-for-profit community services provider and a church which has for 200 years helped Australians of all ages and abilities combat homelessness, addiction, mental health challenges, and financial hardship.
TCH look to provide housing support for both older women, and women and their children who are under threat of homelessness, possibly due to domestic and family violence experiences or simply being single income earners in todays market.
This has meant we are always seeking approved granny flats, apartments, and houses to provide affordable housing to these women.
To help these women in need, we raise funds that enable us to pay the rent gap—what the property is rented for and what the woman can afford. As well as this, TCH provides in-Place support where the women leases the property herself but faced with possibly 50% of her income going in rent.
In the Hornsby area, an example on in-Place support is Sylvia and her three children. Her family needs a three-bedroom home. TCH provides her with a rental support in the form of an ongoing but non-binding charitable gift, which helps her afford her housing.
To support her family as a single income household, Sylvia earns just above the average wage in an administrative role associated with essential services at a major hospital. She like others pays 50% of her income in rent. This has revealed for us the difficulty she faces.
When she tried to find “affordable housing”, Sylvia was recently excluded as she is not an “essential worker”. On the other hand, Sylvia has faced the dilemma that even through discounted-to-market rent affordable apartments are provided as the rent was above 30% of her earnings she was barred from taking the lease.
TCH is seeking donations to help us with support from compassionate owners who can provide homes at suitable rents. Homes which allow these women to secure housing for twelve months to two years while they support themselves and often their children.
