My mission to address homelessness via Telstra Business Women’s Awards

I’m pleased to share that I have been named a finalist in this year’s Telstra Business Women’s Awards.

This is a great honour – and one which I intend to use to help create some greater good.

This post is my first step in using my finalist position as a platform to start conversations and find meaningful ways to address homelessness in the community.

As you may know, I am the executive manager of Terri Scheer Insurance, Australia’s leading landlord insurance provider. Our purpose is to give property owners the confidence to invest in real estate by protecting them against many of the risks associated with property investment.

While my career has focused on providing support to Australia’s residential property investors, it has also opened my eyes to the challenges their tenants face.

Over the past 15 years I have seen many well-intentioned tenants impacted by financial hardship, broken relationships, domestic violence and other issues that leave them unable to pay their rent.

I live and work in the city and the number of people I see sleeping on the streets is heartbreaking.

Across our cities and suburbs each night there are vacant rental homes and Airbnb properties waiting to be filled. Imagine if we could utilise that spare capacity and provide accommodation to those in need.

This is an idea I’m passionate about and keen to explore.

Homelessness isn’t an easy problem to solve, and I understand that my idea is not without its challenges, but I’d love to start the conversation. What do you think?