Church builds 'boarding school' to house homeless amid social housing crisis

The Uniting Church is transforming an old building into a modern "boarding school-style" facility for the homeless, responding to a critical need in the community.

It has been using a caravan to temporarily house homeless people, but Reverend Andrew Cunningham said it wasn't meeting the demand.

"We've been doing that for two or three years and this year particularly it has been in constant use," Reverend Cunningham said.

So, the church decided to convert a heritage-listed building into a seven-bedroom, modern social housing space.

The idea for more permanent housing came from community interactions while distributing meals to those in need every Saturday, Reverend Cunningham said.

"We have that social interaction with people and get to learn their stories and hear about some of the needs in town," he said.

"Some of the common stories we hear are on the couch surfing that people do and the rough sleeping."

"It is a good use of money to provide something that other people can use to have safe, secure accommodation."

The church's plans have come as the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare released a report on July 12 shows that social housing has not kept pace with population growth.

From 2008 to 2023, the number of social housing units increased from 379,000 to 423,000 - an 11 per cent increase.

Over this same period, the number of households in Australia increased from 8 million to 10.3 million - a 29 per cent increase.

This suggests that while the amount of social housing has slightly increased, it's not enough to support the 184,000 Australians on the housing waiting list.

The social housing facility in Orange NSW will be up and running by January 2025 and the church is engaging with agencies to see how it can best serve the community.

"We've just received our own application approval that has come through in the last few weeks," Reverend Cunningham said.

"What was in an old building will all be brand new ... so a high quality place for people to stay."

"The agency will provide all the high level care that people need ... and if they feel somebody is suitable for our sort of facility, then they will pass them on to us."