Latest / Seen and Heard with Prue Aja / How $5K Can End Homelessness for Women | Dionne Payn

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How $5K Can End Homelessness for Women | Dionne Payn · Seen and Heard with Prue Aja

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: So after coming back from the retreat and I was like, okay, well, if I'm playing sport, like how do I go bigger?
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: And what came to me was just, you know, work with what's already there.
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: Like there was so much beautiful energy at that retreat and so much support, like women supporting each other.
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: It was so amazing.
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: From there, women for Homes was born.
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: My goal is to inspire a million women to invest $5,000 to end homelessness by 2030.
• 0:32
  Speaker 2: The fastest growing homelessness is in women over 55.
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: We've got the gender pay gap time out of the workforce to have children.
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: We've got divorce that adds to that, and then you know, if they haven't got as much superannuation to retire on.
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: We can do better, and let's do better together, because that's going to be so much fun.
• 0:53
  Speaker 2: Welcome to the Seen and Heard podcast, created for you if you're a consultant, coach or creative and want to enhance your connection to your higher self, evolve your mindset and embody your personal brand, creating freedom, fulfillment and success.
• 1:07
  Speaker 2: Whether you're leveling up or navigating a new chapter, this podcast helps you own your power and show up confidently to be seen and heard.
• 1:16
  Speaker 2: I'm your host, pruaja, personal brand coach, photographer and motivational speaker.
• 1:22
  Speaker 2: Photographer and motivational speaker.
• 1:30
  Speaker 2: Thank you so much for joining me today, dion.
• 1:31
  Speaker 2: It's been an absolute pleasure since I've met you and I've loved all of our interactions.
• 1:35
  Speaker 2: Actually, do you just want to tell me a little bit about yourself and what you do, because I think you might be better at explaining it than me.
• 1:42
  Speaker 2: Okay, cool.
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: Well, look for context.
• 1:46
  Speaker 1: I was a property developer.
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: I started about 10 years ago and it was very much about doing property development to make money, so I didn't have to work, so I could stay, you know.
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: So not stay home with the kids, but just not have to go into the workplace and compromise what I wanted to do.
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: So I did that and a couple of developments in.
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: We started off quite small, but a couple of developments in.
• 2:12
  Speaker 1: I ended up doing a larger affordable housing project and it already had the DA attached, so we just bought the land and then continued with the construction.
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: And that was a bit of a game changer for me, because I realised that I could make money through doing property development and also have a big impact on the community as well, and that was really valuable.
• 2:35
  Speaker 1: So I quickly realised well, probably not that quickly, actually, it took me a little while and a few kind of you know, burnouts, but I realised eventually that development wasn't my strong point.
• 2:47
  Speaker 1: There's a lot of skills that you need to have to be a developer and they're different skills to the ones that I have.
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: So as soon as I realised that and I was like, well, what game do I actually want to play.
• 2:59
  Speaker 1: I decided that I was going to raise money for property developers that were creating affordable, sustainable and inclusive homes, because I realized, once I'd done that project, I couldn't go back to doing property development or supporting property development in any other way.
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: So now that's what I do.
• 3:17
  Speaker 1: I've got a company called High Impact Property Investments.
• 3:19
  Speaker 1: I founded it in 2021.
• 3:21
  Speaker 1: And that's what we do.
• 3:23
  Speaker 1: We raise money.
• 3:23
  Speaker 1: It in 2021, and that's what we do.
• 3:29
  Speaker 1: We raise money and, on the flip side, we raise money from investors and our sort of target for them is that we help them to achieve double digit returns through investing into affordable, sustainable and inclusive homes amazing.
• 3:40
  Speaker 2: And I remember chatting to you about this at the retreat that you came to recently and I was like, oh, you know, I would love to be a property investor or a property developer, but like, where do you even begin and start with that?
• 3:57
  Speaker 2: And I think you mentioned that you know, for a property investor, the minimum amount they would really need to get started was $50,000.
• 4:07
  Speaker 2: Is that right?
• 4:09
  Speaker 1: Yeah, so that was the old me.
• 4:13
  Speaker 1: Let's talk about the retreat, actually, because something shifted for me as a result of the retreat which was really profound.
• 4:19
  Speaker 1: Yeah, the retreat was great, and all the way through the retreat, I kept getting these messages of you're playing small.
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: Actually, that was on the last day, so the messages I got were around resistance, um, and I just could not understand what I was resisting because I thought, you know, with all of the work that I've been doing, I'm like you know, I'm here, I'm open, I'm ready to do whatever is needed, um, but the, the message that I got in the tea ceremony on the last day was that I was playing too small, um, and that I really needed to think bigger.
• 4:53
  Speaker 1: And one of the beautiful things around being at the retreat was being surrounded by women and, um, you know, when I spoke about what I did in a very natural setting, um, the, the responses that I was getting was that sounds amazing, how could we be involved?
• 5:08
  Speaker 1: So, after coming back from the retreat and I was like, okay, well, if I'm playing small, like how do I go bigger?
• 5:14
  Speaker 1: And what came to me was just, you know, work with what's already there.
• 5:20
  Speaker 1: Like there was so much beautiful energy at that retreat and so much support, like women supporting each other.
• 5:27
  Speaker 1: It was so amazing and, um, yeah, from there, women for homes was born and women for homes is a movement, um, and a movement that I started and um, yeah, it's.
• 5:40
  Speaker 1: It's really about making investment into ethical properties, whether it be affordable, sustainable or disability housing, making it more accessible to people.
• 5:52
  Speaker 1: So that's a long way of answering your question, but the minimum investment is $5,000.
• 5:58
  Speaker 2: Which makes me excited, because I've definitely invested $5,000 after $10,000 on different projects and startups in the past as well, and what really excites me about this is it's ethical, it's an entry level, it's supporting women and it's creating housing.
• 6:17
  Speaker 2: And there was one big thing that you mentioned that was a part of your mission, which was around ending homelessness for women by 2030.
• 6:27
  Speaker 1: Absolutely, Absolutely so.
• 6:29
  Speaker 1: Um, my goal is to inspire a million women to invest $5,000 to end homelessness by 2030.
• 6:39
  Speaker 1: And it's so achievable.
• 6:40
  Speaker 1: I'm so excited.
• 6:44
  Speaker 2: Tell cause.
• 6:44
  Speaker 2: That feels very overwhelming to me.
• 6:47
  Speaker 2: I'm like how is that achievable?
• 6:49
  Speaker 2: Can you tell me?
• 6:51
  Speaker 2: Break it down a little bit?
• 6:53
  Speaker 1: Yeah, absolutely so.
• 6:54
  Speaker 1: Look, there's a couple of different aspects to this.
• 6:56
  Speaker 1: One is looking at how many people are homeless in Australia at the moment and the 2021 census there were, I think it was, 150,000 people that were homeless.
• 7:12
  Speaker 1: So, in the grand scheme of things, that's actually not a lot of people, and so that that's one aspect.
• 7:21
  Speaker 1: You know we can.
• 7:22
  Speaker 1: We can go okay, well, let's.
• 7:23
  Speaker 1: What are the facts that we're dealing with?
• 7:25
  Speaker 1: Well, the number of people that are homeless in Australia is not that large.
• 7:29
  Speaker 1: It's too large, but it's not that large.
• 7:31
  Speaker 1: It's not insurmountable.
• 7:32
  Speaker 1: The other thing to add to that is that those were the people that were counted in the census.
• 7:39
  Speaker 1: There are people, and particularly women, who are called the hidden homeless.
• 7:44
  Speaker 1: So they're women that are couch surfing, sleeping in cars, just living in really unsafe situations, and they were not counted in the census.
• 7:55
  Speaker 1: And there's a lot around that because there's a lot of pride, there's a lot of, you know, not really wanting to tell people what your situation is if you are homeless in that environment, because you know as long as you can carry on and as long as on the surface, it's okay, then that's what a lot of women are actually doing that are in that situation.
• 8:17
  Speaker 1: So the number of homeless people is definitely higher, but it's still not an insurmountable number.
• 8:24
  Speaker 1: Now we definitely need to be building more houses, for sure, um, and, and we need to be building more houses.
• 8:32
  Speaker 1: We have an increasing population and we've got people that are coming in from overseas filling the skills gap that we have in australia, and so we definitely have that.
• 8:41
  Speaker 1: We have, um, we have families that are breaking down, and so where we had, you know, four in one house, now we're looking at more houses to house those people.
• 8:50
  Speaker 1: So there's that too.
• 8:52
  Speaker 1: So we definitely do need to be building more houses houses, too.
• 9:09
  Speaker 1: So, as an example, I was talking to a colleague a couple of days ago.
• 9:10
  Speaker 1: He has a client who has a disability and needs some more help around the house.
• 9:12
  Speaker 1: They just happen to have a granny flat on their property that is sitting empty, so they're looking for some additional help.
• 9:19
  Speaker 1: They could offer this, this granny flat, as rental accommodation for free, in exchange for that help.
• 9:25
  Speaker 1: So you see what I mean.
• 9:26
  Speaker 1: There's like there's a redistribution of housing.
• 9:29
  Speaker 1: There's empty rooms that are there.
• 9:30
  Speaker 1: There's um people couples, elderly couples that are looking to downsize, can't find the right home, but they're in three-bedroom homes.
• 9:37
  Speaker 1: So there's, there's, there's a lot of rooms, there's a lot of houses, and and we can be more sensible and discerning about how we use those.
• 9:46
  Speaker 1: So that's another thing.
• 9:47
  Speaker 1: And then the other thing is a million women investing $5,000 each is $5 billion.
• 9:53
  Speaker 1: Now I like to think of it this way If you go to purchase a property, you go to the bank, you ask for a mortgage, you put down a 20% deposit, the bank will give you 80% and you can buy your property.
• 10:07
  Speaker 1: So you've only had to come up with 20%, and that leverage gets you into a house that might be $500,000.
• 10:14
  Speaker 1: So if we look at it in terms of the $5 billion that we could raise through a million women investing $5,000, then that is also leverage for the bigger funds of money that can then go out and purchase these homes or develop these homes.
• 10:30
  Speaker 1: So all of those put together just mean to me that this is absolutely achievable.
• 10:39
  Speaker 1: I think it's worth just commenting, because I can hear in my head people are going to say well, you can't just take homeless people off the streets and dump them in houses.
• 10:45
  Speaker 1: It doesn't work like that and it doesn't.
• 10:47
  Speaker 1: There's a lot of wraparound supports, but do you know how much money is being spent by the government our taxpayers money in helping people that are currently homeless.
• 10:58
  Speaker 1: There's a lot of money that goes to that.
• 10:59
  Speaker 1: There's a lot of money.
• 11:00
  Speaker 1: I was talking to a lady the other day who said that that, um, foster children or children that are homeless, that, uh, you know under 16, there's a large number of them that are being housed in hotels, um, and they've got somebody that's looking after them a supervisor but the the taxpayers money is going towards the hotels and providing that accommodation and the wraparound services around that.
• 11:26
  Speaker 1: Now, it's not that there's not money there, it's just being used in a way that isn't.
• 11:31
  Speaker 1: It's the best that we can do at the moment.
• 11:34
  Speaker 1: I'm not bagging what they're doing, but I think it if we have that holistic view of how we home people, then we can do better.
• 11:42
  Speaker 1: So there's definitely money there to solve this problem.
• 11:44
  Speaker 1: So I'm not afraid of that goal.
• 11:48
  Speaker 2: Wow, there's so much in that that you've said, and I've written down a few questions that I want to dive a little bit deeper into as well.
• 11:55
  Speaker 2: Is this a global vision or Australia?
• 12:04
  Speaker 1: global um, and it's not necessarily that I I previous to um my developer life.
• 12:11
  Speaker 1: I was a researcher.
• 12:13
  Speaker 1: So, um, I did a PhD in chemistry and research was a big part of my life and and what I loved about that time was that there was a lot in sharing information, and I really see that Women for Homes can also do that, not necessarily in an academic perspective, but from the perspective of we.
• 12:34
  Speaker 1: You know, we do this in Australia.
• 12:36
  Speaker 1: We inspire other countries to be doing it as well.
• 12:38
  Speaker 1: We share our knowledge because none of this is proprietary and it shouldn't be.
• 12:42
  Speaker 1: We share our knowledge so other people can do the same as well, and we support other people to do the same.
• 12:47
  Speaker 1: So, yes, it's global.
• 12:49
  Speaker 1: That's the kind of long answer to that question.
• 12:55
  Speaker 2: I'm just so excited that this was born from the retreat and to be a part of this mission, alongside you and do everything I can to help support it and get the word out there, which is why I'm really excited to have you on the podcast and just start spreading the message.
• 13:10
  Speaker 2: One of the things.
• 13:12
  Speaker 2: Well, a couple of things.
• 13:13
  Speaker 2: I heard statistics that the fastest growing homelessness is in women over 55.
• 13:22
  Speaker 1: Absolutely yeah, and there's a number of reasons for that.
• 13:26
  Speaker 1: So we've got the gender pay gap, which is still an issue even in this day and age.
• 13:31
  Speaker 1: I don't understand it, but it is.
• 13:32
  Speaker 1: And so that's, you know, traditionally same job.
• 13:36
  Speaker 1: In some workforces men get paid more for the same job as their female counterparts.
• 13:43
  Speaker 1: And Then if women decide to take time out of the workforce to have children, then that's a break in that earning capacity that they have.
• 13:51
  Speaker 1: It's also a break in the accumulation of superannuation.
• 13:56
  Speaker 1: Some women do choose to go back into the workforce.
• 13:59
  Speaker 1: For some women it's sooner, some women it's later.
• 14:02
  Speaker 1: But what I've seen is a lack of confidence in, you know, the time that they've had that break, because it doesn't seem to be so valued in society, even though child rearing is the most important thing that we can do.
• 14:15
  Speaker 1: But because of that women often lose their confidence and, you know, don't necessarily get back into the roles at the same pay scales that they were before.
• 14:25
  Speaker 1: So there's that sort of stopping of earning capacity and loss of earning capacity for that period of time.
• 14:33
  Speaker 1: And then you know when relationships break down, and I think the statistic is one in three relationships, one in three marriages fail, and it's often the women that are worse off as a result of that.
• 14:45
  Speaker 1: So you've got divorce that adds to that, and then you know if they haven't got as much superannuation to retire on, it's not surprising.
• 14:53
  Speaker 1: All of this compounds and comes together and makes it so that that cohort of women over 55 are the fastest growing group facing homelessness.
• 15:02
  Speaker 1: Yeah, so there's a lot of things that I think can be done about it.
• 15:08
  Speaker 1: I think that valuing the child rearing period of our lives is really important, and I'd love for the government to do that.
• 15:16
  Speaker 1: I remember reading a few years ago that if a woman was paid for the work that she did in child rearing, that job would be $200,000 a year, and I'm like, oh, bring that on.
• 15:32
  Speaker 2: Yes, please Can we have that salary.
• 15:34
  Speaker 2: A friend of mine who we've been planning to get on the podcast for a while now.
• 15:38
  Speaker 2: She started a movement called motherism and touching on all these topics as well.
• 15:45
  Speaker 2: So, um, um, yeah, it's all a part of it, and I was, I guess, a victim to this as well becoming a single mom when my daughter was five years old, and then going and renting.
• 15:57
  Speaker 2: Having to rent a two bedroom apartment in the city I didn't want to live at in the sticks because that would have affected my mental health, being so far away from my friends.
• 16:07
  Speaker 2: So I did pay the extra rent and just hoped that my business was going to do enough to support me.
• 16:12
  Speaker 2: But then also, you know, having to work more while also mothering and running a home and doing other things like it's a lot and there was something you talked about with, you know, the women not being a part of the census because of the shame around it and us not really being honest about our situations.
• 16:36
  Speaker 2: Like that actually made me tear up a bit because I know personally I've had to just keep showing up and not talk about the reality of what, how hard things have been behind the scenes doing it all.
• 16:49
  Speaker 2: So, yeah, it is really sad and I'm very passionate about about this, because for a single mum in australia to go and buy property, it's it's not really possible.
• 17:02
  Speaker 2: I'm very grateful that I was able to.
• 17:05
  Speaker 2: I have a apartment in melbourne but it is costing me a lot of money out of pocket.
• 17:10
  Speaker 2: And, speaking of this, I actually listened to a podcast yesterday on Diary of a CEO about the future of money and investing and superannuation and how it all works and what was something really interesting that popped up?
• 17:25
  Speaker 2: Two things one is that buying your own home is not really the best investment and having investment properties that are going to create a return.
• 17:36
  Speaker 2: I know this isn't a financial advice podcast at all.
• 17:39
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm just putting that out there.
• 17:42
  Speaker 2: So do not take any of this information and speak to a professional.
• 17:46
  Speaker 2: But the other thing was investing and having those dividends and returns in your retired years.
• 17:53
  Speaker 2: So the other side of the coin of what you're doing as well is inviting people to invest with a minimum of five thousand dollars investment, which then I think you were talking about the return on that as well.
• 18:07
  Speaker 2: So not only are you helping in homelessness and create homes, but you're helping women build wealth through investing too.
• 18:16
  Speaker 2: So if we want to touch on that part of it as well, yeah, I'd love to.
• 18:21
  Speaker 1: And, um, look it, I I was thinking about um, I'll backtrack.
• 18:28
  Speaker 1: So, um, as part of women for Homes, I'm building the community at the moment.
• 18:33
  Speaker 1: So you can imagine, a million women is quite a task and my commitment to myself is to just keep showing up.
• 18:40
  Speaker 1: So every day I'm showing up and, just you know, creating very short videos, couple of minute videos, just on, really around building the community and building the case for women, investing in other women.
• 18:55
  Speaker 1: And so I was thinking this morning about what I was going to talk about today.
• 19:01
  Speaker 1: And yesterday I saw a post on LinkedIn and it was about Maslow's hierarchy of needs.
• 19:08
  Speaker 1: And I wrote a book a couple of years ago called Ethical Property Investing, and in that I talked about Maslow's hierarchy of needs and it was like you know, at the bottom there's your basic needs, so there's your food, your shelter, warmth, and then, as you go up the pyramid, you get to self-actualization.
• 19:26
  Speaker 1: So you've got to have your basic needs taken care of to be able to thrive and be the best that you can be.
• 19:31
  Speaker 1: This post on LinkedIn that I saw took it a step further, and I didn't know this at the time, I didn't do the research, but I've researched it since, and Maslow created his hierarchy of needs from speaking to Indigenous Canadian peoples and they were called the Blackfoot tribe and and they shared the the hierarchy with them.
• 19:56
  Speaker 1: But their, their triangle and it was actually a teepee actually was at the bottom was self-actualization, in the middle was community act, community actualization, and then the top of that was cultural perpetuity.
• 20:11
  Speaker 1: So, essentially, when your cup is full, then you can look to creating things for the benefit of the community and that keeps the life of the community and the culture living and breathing and all of that.
• 20:27
  Speaker 1: So, in a similar way, that's how I see women for homes.
• 20:32
  Speaker 1: Yes, okay, we've got to take care of our needs, so we've got to make sure that we're investing.
• 20:37
  Speaker 1: But when we also invest in alignment with our values, we feel really fulfilled at that, when we also invest in a way where we're helping to solve meaningful problems and we're helping other people to move their way up the up the pyramid as well, and I think that is the best way to invest.
• 20:54
  Speaker 1: On the flip side, we have, um, we have what I call extractive investing, or somebody else has termed it arsehole investing, and that's not necessarily to bag anybody.
• 21:05
  Speaker 1: That's um, you know that's thinking in a different way, but it's a, it's an invitation to think differently about investing.
• 21:11
  Speaker 1: So, rather than take, take, take um, which a lot of you know, when we think about coal mining, for example, that's that's a very extractive type of investing.
• 21:20
  Speaker 1: Anything that is not helping people and planet to thrive, I would say, is extractive.
• 21:26
  Speaker 1: Anything that is um is inclusive and joyful and fun and fulfilling, and that's the way that I think that we should be moving towards.
• 21:35
  Speaker 2: I feel like that just creates a more expansive, supportive community, better world on so many levels as well.
• 21:44
  Speaker 2: So to get one million people a part of your community.
• 21:50
  Speaker 2: What can we do today to support you, support this mission, change the world and homelessness for women.
• 21:59
  Speaker 2: What are the action steps that you know the people listening can take?
• 22:07
  Speaker 1: yeah, look, there's a few things.
• 22:08
  Speaker 1: So I think that the first step would be to sign up to Women for Homes, and I can share the links for that.
• 22:16
  Speaker 1: In that signing up process, there's a few ways to be involved.
• 22:24
  Speaker 1: Do you want to contribute financially?
• 22:26
  Speaker 1: Do you want to contribute time?
• 22:28
  Speaker 1: Do you want to contribute connections?
• 22:29
  Speaker 1: Do you want to contribute time?
• 22:29
  Speaker 1: Do you want to contribute connections?
• 22:30
  Speaker 1: Do you want to contribute your skills?
• 22:32
  Speaker 1: So we all have resources and in some areas we are more resource rich.
• 22:37
  Speaker 1: In other areas we don't have the same amount of resources as everybody else, but we all have resources and we all have something to give.
• 22:43
  Speaker 1: So, yeah, I mean, this is this is a movement very much about investing rather than charity, but there are lots of ways in this movement to be able to move things forward.
• 22:55
  Speaker 2: Amazing.
• 22:56
  Speaker 2: So when you say investing with skills, what does that look like?
• 23:04
  Speaker 1: Good question Okay, so let's take you as an example.
• 23:07
  Speaker 1: Prue.
• 23:07
  Speaker 1: Good question, okay, so let's.
• 23:10
  Speaker 1: Let's take you as an example, prue and I.
• 23:11
  Speaker 1: I think I remember you saying that you did a fundraiser a while ago where you did like a hundred headshots in a hundred days or something like that.
• 23:17
  Speaker 1: Can you remind me?
• 23:17
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 23:18
  Speaker 2: So that was for the Hunger Project and their mission is to end world hunger by 2030.
• 23:23
  Speaker 2: So as a part of their leadership program, you had to raise $10, and I was like, okay, let's do the math on this and I worked out if I do a hundred headshots of a hundred people for a hundred dollars, I'll get there.
• 23:37
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I nearly killed myself doing it and I'm so grateful.
• 23:41
  Speaker 2: There were some incredible people that invested more so I didn't have to do 100 hours of shooting and editing.
• 23:50
  Speaker 2: Didn't think about my time value in that enough.
• 23:53
  Speaker 2: This is like six or seven years ago, but there's definitely ways.
• 23:59
  Speaker 2: So, like by offering your service, by creating.
• 24:02
  Speaker 2: So for me, as a photographer, what I would do now, going forward, is create a day where you know, know the certain amount of money doing headshots, say, and a certain amount of money would cover the expenses and the rest would go to charity or creating an event, so maybe having a lunch and inviting everyone in your network together, which would be an amazing opportunity for people to connect and also grow their own businesses.
• 24:26
  Speaker 2: But then maybe there's an extra 20 50 added onto the ticket, could that could go towards it um, yeah, so it's things like that.
• 24:36
  Speaker 2: It's like you know, whatever that skill is for people, bring it on, you know yeah, and so if someone was to go, okay, I'm going to join the community, here's five thousand dollars I want to invest, then what is?
• 24:50
  Speaker 2: How does that play out?
• 24:53
  Speaker 1: Okay, well, let's talk about the timeline.
• 24:55
  Speaker 1: So right now, it's about building the community.
• 24:57
  Speaker 1: We're not quite ready to invest, but the position that I'm in and the work that I do through high impact property investments, I have companies that are looking to, you know, looking to raise capital and are offering really decent rates of return on that as well.
• 25:18
  Speaker 1: And when we talk about investment, we really have to be looking at risk, and that's also one of the things I talk about in Ethical property investing book.
• 25:27
  Speaker 1: But you need to know the risks.
• 25:30
  Speaker 1: So, having done all of this work and sort of looking at many, many developers' projects, there's a few key things for me that you know I look at.
• 25:41
  Speaker 1: It's like, okay, how do we minimise the risk of people's investments?
• 25:45
  Speaker 1: And also, is this project actually going to move things forward?
• 25:49
  Speaker 1: Is it creating affordable, sustainable, inclusive homes?
• 25:51
  Speaker 1: Now, if those two things are met, as well as some other things, then I can say, okay, well, we've minimized the risks as much as possible.
• 25:58
  Speaker 1: We know that it's going to create a really massive impact.
• 26:02
  Speaker 1: The developer has committed to defining the impact, measuring the impact and reporting the impact.
• 26:08
  Speaker 1: So we know that it's not greenwashing, yeah, and then, yeah, it's essentially pooling our resources together to invest into that particular project.
• 26:20
  Speaker 1: So in terms of that's the mechanism of it, in terms of the timeline, actually creating a platform to allow that to happen as you can imagine, a million women investing would be quite an administrative thing to deal with so creating a platform that makes that really easy.
• 26:43
  Speaker 1: So we're hoping to launch that at the end of January, start of February.
• 26:47
  Speaker 2: Wow, that's quick yes.
• 26:52
  Speaker 1: Launched that in at the end of January, start of February.
• 26:54
  Speaker 1: Wow, that's quick yes.
• 26:54
  Speaker 1: And I'm not expecting a million women by the end of January.
• 26:55
  Speaker 1: Yeah, although if that does happen, that would be wonderful and and um, yeah, I mean for me sort of on that, like I'm, I'm so looking for partnerships with other women that are inspiring, that they are inspiring their communities and have those networks to join forces with them.
• 27:12
  Speaker 1: So I just see this as being a really collaborative initiative.
• 27:17
  Speaker 1: It's definitely not a solo show.
• 27:22
  Speaker 2: Definitely it's a huge mission and, yeah, it will take community to bring it all together as well.
• 27:28
  Speaker 2: Now I just want to stay on the part of investing.
• 27:31
  Speaker 2: So well, firstly, when would you ideally like to hit the million women mark?
• 27:40
  Speaker 2: I've mapped it out and I think that within the next four years, we could hit a million women okay, amazing, yeah, I like to hear these like numbers and visions, because then I start manifesting it as well.
• 27:53
  Speaker 2: Oh, you know how a part of the retreat was really like sharing your visions and because when we can all see and mirror back each other's visions, it plants seeds in one another and we start that, you know, collaborative, powerful manifestation for one another too.
• 28:10
  Speaker 2: Um so say, okay, when you are open to investing and I put five thousand dollars in and I know nothing's guaranteed and there is a risk, like, oh, what if I wanted to put twenty thousand dollars in, say, when would I potentially look at seeing a return on that?
• 28:31
  Speaker 2: Like, how does that part work?
• 28:33
  Speaker 1: Yeah, well, the projects that I've got earmarked for Women for Homes, the returns are sort of it's basically a 12-month period of investment, so the money is locked up for 12 months and then 12 months is when the dividends happen.
• 28:52
  Speaker 1: One thing I would say and something to consider, and definitely not financial advice, but there's the power of compounding, which I think is really worth talking about.
• 29:04
  Speaker 1: So when you invest let's say you invested five thousand dollars and your return on investment was ten percent per annum, and so that's five hundred dollars that you in interest in that year, and compound interest is actually leaving that five, five hundred dollars of interest in with your original five thousand dollars and letting that that increase sort of year on year on year.
• 29:29
  Speaker 1: Doing something like that on a 10% per annum interest rate, that leads to a doubling of your money within 10 years.
• 29:39
  Speaker 1: So in terms of creating wealth, which is what Women for Homes is about, the compounding effect is one that shouldn't be ignored, I think compounding effect is one that shouldn't be ignored.
• 29:52
  Speaker 2: I think A hundred percent yes.
• 29:53
  Speaker 2: And is it investing this in a similar way of shares, where then you can sell your share if you need to access money at a time, or is it more like investing in a property yourself, where you have to wait till you then sell the property?
• 30:05
  Speaker 1: At this stage, I think it would be more like investing in shares and then you could sell the shares, yeah, as you need to.
• 30:12
  Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah um, this is my inquisitive mind, and these are questions that come up for me, which I hope are useful also to anyone who's listening as well.
• 30:22
  Speaker 2: Now, on the other side of the spectrum, this money is being invested in ethical property developments.
• 30:27
  Speaker 2: So what does that side look like?
• 30:30
  Speaker 2: You mentioned that you're looking at a couple of projects at the moment.
• 30:32
  Speaker 2: Can you tell me a bit about them?
• 30:35
  Speaker 2: And are they sold or rented out, and who rents them?
• 30:38
  Speaker 2: And, yeah, what does that look like?
• 30:40
  Speaker 1: Well, I can give you an example of a project that I'm working on at the moment.
• 30:44
  Speaker 1: I think it will be funded by the time Women for Home starts, but it's a good, it's a very good example.
• 30:49
  Speaker 1: I think it will be funded by the time Women for Home starts, but it's a good, it's a very good example.
• 30:52
  Speaker 1: So this is an organisation in Western Australia and they are a housing cooperative.
• 30:56
  Speaker 1: Now, housing cooperatives are pretty cool because they can offer affordable housing.
• 31:01
  Speaker 1: So somebody that wants to be a member of that housing cooperative will pay only a proportion about 30% of what the property is actually worth, and that 30% secures them a home in this housing cooperative and the balance that just basically gives them the right to live in that home until they're ready to sell and move on, and so it's a very affordable way to be buying homes.
• 31:28
  Speaker 1: And the Housing Cooperative itself is a charity, not-for-profit organisation, so it's getting grants and loans as well to be able to offer that as a service.
• 31:45
  Speaker 1: I just think it's quite beautiful the way that it's been done.
• 31:47
  Speaker 1: So even from the design of it, the members of the cooperative were involved in the design.
• 31:52
  Speaker 1: It's a really collaborative approach to doing property, because normally what happens is a developer will just go ahead and build something.
• 32:05
  Speaker 1: He or she will do some research, find out what's selling in the area and then build more of that because there's a track record, whereas, and what that means is that people don't necessarily have an input into their home until they then go and buy it and then modify it or whatever they choose to do, whereas in this case, the members and every member is equal every, every member has the right to vote, and so they're involved in the design, they're involved in the rules for living in that cooperative, when it's complete as well.
• 32:37
  Speaker 1: So it's just a beautiful way to do it and it's providing affordable housing.
• 32:45
  Speaker 1: So they received a grant of $8 million, but they needed an extra $4 million to be able to go ahead with that, and so that's the work that I was doing to help them to get the grant in the first place, as well as get the additional $4 million which they pretty much now have fingers crossed.
• 33:04
  Speaker 1: As get the additional $4 million which they pretty much now have fingers crossed, and so that $4 million would have attracted an interest rate of 15% sorry, no 12% per annum.
• 33:18
  Speaker 1: So it's those kind of projects where you've definitely got that impact in the affordable housing You've got the risk is reduced because you've got grants that are in the affordable housing and you've got, um, that the risk is reduced because you've got grants that are in there as well.
• 33:33
  Speaker 1: So it's not just the investors money that's in there and and there's a decent return for the investor as well.
• 33:38
  Speaker 1: So I look at that and go that's a win-win-win and those are the types of projects that I'll be putting forward for women, for homes amazing.
• 33:47
  Speaker 2: I I love that it's just so powerful on so many levels as well.
• 33:51
  Speaker 2: I know there was a couple of projects similar in melbourne actually, and it just created this really community environment in these apartment blocks.
• 34:01
  Speaker 2: So some of the things I noticed is they didn't have car parks, so to encourage people to ride bikes more and be more environmentally sustainable, and also things like having a laundry room.
• 34:15
  Speaker 2: Like I remember a lot of apartments back in the eighties their laundry room would be separate and I kind of think that's nice because then people kind of come together, hang their washing out together.
• 34:25
  Speaker 2: I don't know, maybe it's just me, but a big problem that leads to mental health is lack of people connecting and community, and I think this is creating community again, like knowing your neighbors and having that, and I'm going a little bit off track here, but it's really good to know now both sides of the story.
• 34:45
  Speaker 2: So how do you see this ending homelessness?
• 34:51
  Speaker 1: I see it increasing the supply of homes.
• 34:53
  Speaker 1: I see housing as a continuum.
• 34:58
  Speaker 1: So I think that when I think that the common way of looking at housing is okay, we're just going to build homes without looking at, well, what's the continuum that we need to be taking care of, and looking at that from a holistic level.
• 35:12
  Speaker 1: So when I talk about the continuum, talking about social housing, even before then, transitional housing, social housing, affordable housing, and these are all rental, moving into affordable home ownership, moving into private market rent, private market housing, moving into downsizing, because you've got people that are older and need to reduce the amount of space that they have, and then you've got aged care.
• 35:43
  Speaker 1: So if you look at that whole continuum, I see that we end homelessness by looking at the big picture and going, ok, well, how do we move people up this way?
• 35:52
  Speaker 1: So help people enter and help people move up this way as well.
• 35:57
  Speaker 1: So, in the supply of housing, in seeing the housing continuum as a, as a big picture, and using the space that we have more efficiently, Amazing.
• 36:12
  Speaker 2: Well, I think I might wrap it up there.
• 36:13
  Speaker 2: I feel like we've had a nice holistic view of what you're up to, and I'm excited to actually probably get you back on the podcast in six or 12 months from now to see how many people have joined the community and where it's all at.
• 36:29
  Speaker 2: Um, I'm really on board with this mission and will do everything I can to put the word out there and make it happen as well.
• 36:37
  Speaker 2: Is there any last things that you would like to share to the listeners to help them take action?
• 36:47
  Speaker 1: yeah, look what sort of springs to me at the moment is.
• 36:49
  Speaker 1: I've spent the last few years saying you can make double-digit returns through investing in affordable, sustainable and inclusive homes.
• 36:56
  Speaker 1: That's been the drum that I've been banging for all of this time, and now it's a real shift to.
• 37:04
  Speaker 1: I mean, it's the same story, but it's also we can do better and let's do better together, because that's going to be so much fun let's do better together.
• 37:15
  Speaker 2: I love that take, take away the build back better and let's do better together.
• 37:20
  Speaker 2: I think is a much better mission to work on.
• 37:24
  Speaker 1: I'm all in for that.
• 37:26
  Speaker 2: thank you so so much for your time, Dion, and I will leave some the links in the show notes as well for people to find out more and join the community and be a part of your mission.
• 37:38
  Speaker 1: Wonderful.
• 37:38
  Speaker 1: Thank you so much.
• 37:42
  Speaker 2: If this episode has inspired and motivated you and you, you know it could help someone in your network please share it on your favorite social media platform.
• 37:52
  Speaker 2: To explore other ways you can work with me as a personal branding coach or photographer, visit pruajacom or join one of my personal brand transformation retreats, where you reinvent yourself and walk away feeling excited and energized, with clarity on who you are and photos to show the world.
• 38:12
  Speaker 2: Thank you for tuning in and remember to own your power and shine your light.
• 38:17
  Speaker 2: I'm your host, pruaja.