Housing Choices Australia - Annual Report 2022-2023

SA resident Keith with Maureen from Spirit in Unity

DJ Erin pictured with SA resident Rebeccah

Good neighbours make good connections

Neighbour Day was marked with events in Marden and the Mellor St community space thanks to the SA Inclusive Communities team. Neighbour Day is Australia's annual celebration of community and the 2023 theme was to ‘create belonging’. It was a nice reminder that it can take time and eort to create a sense of belonging in our community. Over the past year, our plant-filled space in the Spence on Light building has been transformed once a week into a community café of sorts, thanks to two of the building’s residents – Michael and Kenneth. For Michael and Kenneth, community and connection make life worth living. When they moved into the high-density Spence on Light building as private owners in 2022, they felt there was a lack of community connection amongst the residents.

Spence on Light is home to people from all walks of life, with some apartments privately owned, some with services provided by ACH Group and others managed by Housing Choices South Australia. Using a single power point, a tap and a load of leftover bread, Michael and Kenneth set up a mobile breakfast buet of French Toast – with an open invite to the local community. From 16 people at the first Sunday brunch to more than 500 attendees in eight months, the weekly pop-up eatery has become affectionately known as the ‘vertical village’.

SA residents Michael and Kenneth serve community brunch

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Housing Choices Australia Group

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