Could tiny homes combat Geelong’s homelessness issues? These locals think so

A COLLABORATION between a local builder and a community centre is tackling homelessness from the ground up.

The first Swift Tiny Home, installed in Portarlington by carpenter Robert Patterson, is the start of what he hopes is a step towards reducing homelessness within the community.

Patterson said he would like to see tiny homes not just in backyards, but sharing blocks in the Geelong region, providing safe and affordable housing for communities in need.

“This is all part of a plan and a hope and desire to help address homelessness,” he said.

“The hope is that we can have where we have multiple tiny homes for people to be able to live in.”

With the first home now installed, Patterson is hoping to gain groundswell support to expand the project further.

This includes working with Cloverdale Community Centre to help fabricate the buildings.

Concerned about the impact of homelessness in the region, Patterson said he knew working with Cloverdale would be a mutually beneficial arrangement.

The team at Cloverdale helped build the first tiny house, which is currently displayed at the centres’ North Geelong shed. Patterson is eager to continue their relationship in the future.

“They have a lot of people come through their doors that need help and they have community people that are interested to do some training at their shed,” he said.

Cloverdale chief executive Liz Bonner said collaboration between the centre and Patterson will have several positive flow-on effects.

“We would love to see more sales and the community centre come back in as the frame-building partner,” she said.

“We can teach people and hopefully reduce the build costs and create more of a wellbeing economy model, where we see a distribution of opportunity and resources.”

Bonner said she is proud that the centre has been part of the early stages of this project and is hopeful to see the collaboration continue.

She also credited Patterson for his patience in continuing to pursue the project.

“Everything always feels like it takes a long time,” Bonner said.

“This is a thing that a lot of people would have given up on before they ride out the period of uncertainty when you’re in development, and one thing I love about Robert is that’s not happened.”

With the first house now delivered and plans to help address homelessness issues across the region, Patterson has started to organise meetings with government officials.

His hope is that these meetings could lead to investment that would allow several of these small, quick-to-build homes to be built for the community in need.

It is a goal Bonner is on board with.

“Fundamentally, housing should be a human right, not a privilege,” she said.

“This project actually means something to us, and we want to see him achieve his vision.”