It has become increasingly obvious over recent years that Canberra suffers an acute shortage of supported housing and of affordable rental housing. Our congregation holds the lease on underutilised land in Curtin - the “Block”, opposite the Curtin Shops on the corner of Theodore and Carruthers Streets - and for some years now we have been endeavouring to see it used for these much needed forms of housing.
In 2013, our Church agreed that MyHome in Canberra, a local community organisation, could use some of this land to build supported housing for people with enduring mental illness and who are homeless or at risk of homelessness. We have continued our support for MyHome ever since, both in the renewed offer of use of land and through the efforts of individual church members in the work of MyHome.
We have been affirmed in our support of MyHome by the inclusion of the project in both the 2016 and 2020 ACT Parliamentary Agreements, under which Labor and the Greens committed to (in the words of the 2020 Agreement) “work with the land-owners and community organisations to deliver the MyHome proposal in Curtin.”
Since 2017 our Church has also been exploring options for the development of affordable rental housing on the remainder of the Block. In 2022 Wesley Mission approached us about their developing affordable rental housing on the Block. It quickly became obvious that it made sense for Wesley to develop affordable rental and supported housing jointly and this idea was attractive both to MyHome and the ACT Government. Progress on both elements has since accelerated.
Wesley, in collaboration with this congregation and MyHome in Canberra, has now prepared initial plans to develop the site into 83 affordable rental and 15 supported housing apartments. In November 2024 we invited the local community to enter into a conversation about the project. We are also seeking ideas on how to create positive connections between the new residents and the local community. The conversation will include
For more information about the project and the conversation please visit www.wesleycurtin.au