Waves Of Kindness Supports “TINY HOMES” with Generous Donation

Youturn Youth Support is very excited to announce that following a generous donation made by the Buderim Foundation / Thompsons Fund to support our Big Hearts for Tiny Homes campaign, Waves of Kindness have followed this with another significant donation of $50,000!

“Waves of Kindness are really proud to be partnering with Youturn to facilitate this Big Hearts for Tiny Homes project. By collaborating with local councils and a myriad of local agencies, Waves of Kindness is able to assist the local community through the proceeds from our Noosaville Opp Shop,” commented Dan Riga, CEO, Waves of Kindness.

“We are so grateful for this generous grant by Waves of Kindness which will allow us to surpass our target of one tiny home and pave the way for us to work towards a second one”, stated Andrew Anderson, CEO of Youturn.

“Over the past 10 months since launching our Big Hearts for Tiny Homes campaign in August last year, we have worked tirelessly with our community and corporate partners to raise awareness and funds for this exciting project.”

Like many other regions, the Sunshine Coast is experiencing a housing crisis, with extreme housing costs, social housing shortages, high rental competition and low average incomes. This can be a challenging place to live for many young people and many are experiencing homelessness.

“The reality according to the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare is that specialist youth homelessness services have insufficient beds to meet demand and they are forced to turn away one in two people who contact them for help,” continued Mr Anderson.

“To achieve our long-term vision of strengthening our community by tackling youth homelessness on the Sunshine Coast, we have set our sights on a substantial initiative to provide more access to stable housing for young people by raising funds to invest and build ‘Tiny Homes’, Mr Anderson said.

The Tiny Homes will provide short-term, transitional housing to young people in need of homelessness support. After receiving help to resolve crisis in their lives, a young person may receive ongoing social support and tenancy in a Tiny Home, before taking the next step to independent living.

“Due to the generous donations received from our supporters including Buderim Foundation and Waves of Kindness, we are now able to commence our build in July for a September delivery. The first two Tiny Homes will be based in the Noosa Shire, and we are working closely with Noosa Council, who has been extremely supportive of this initiative, to secure suitable land for these Tiny Homes. We expect to receive final confirmation shortly and look forward to sharing this with you.”

“Driven by the compassion and support of community, our goal is to build Tiny Homes with a Big Heart. This Big Hearts for Tiny Homes project is a first for our organisation and one that we are truly passionate about, but we cannot do it alone. We are so close, but there is still work to be done. For businesses here in the region who are nearing their financial year end and inclined and able to support this cause, please reach out to us,” concluded Mr Anderson.

— ENDS —

A selection of photos can be accessed HERE

Notes to the Editor:

Youturn is a not-for-profit based at Tewantin that was started 30 years ago to help address youth homelessness in the Noosa region. Since then, the organisation has grown substantially working with young people and those that support them, expanding their focus to include Child Safety, Mental Health, Suicide Prevention and of course Homelessness.

Their humble beginnings started as a Youth Homelessness grass roots project in 1989 with the Noosa Accommodation Project (NAP) which was officially launched by 5 volunteers supporting six young people. They have grown significantly since then to work at 14 locations across Southern Queensland with a staff base of 160 employees and last year helped over 8,600 young people.