Bridge It leads radical St Kilda homelessness collaboration

This week marks the opening of their 9 new apartments for young women experiencing homelessness  

Opening September 17, Bridge It, a charity providing homes for young women (ages 17-21) who have experienced the out-of-home care system or homelessness, has partnered with HousingFirst to extend their capacity from 7 to 16 studio apartments within their supportive housing program, “The Cocoon.” 

To donate to Bridge It head to: https://bridgeit.org.au/home/support-us/ 

With 38,000 young people aged 15–24 years sleeping on the streets, couch surfing, and shelter hopping, heavily impacted by the exponential rise in rental prices, coupled with record-low vacancy rates, Bridge It’s CEO and founder, Carla Raynes can see clear gaps in government funding and policy that leaves residents like hers falling through the cracks.  

"With systemic underfunding across the homelessness sector, radical collaboration is key. We simply can’t expect the government alone to fix this crisis,” states Carla. “Our goal at Bridge It is to replicate Cocoon's success nationwide, ensuring every state has a Cocoon so young women can access this transformative program.”  

"Homelessness in Victoria rose 24% at the last Census, and we need to act now to ensure that we don’t end up with more children and young people without a home. Across 20 years in the sector, I have never seen anything like the Cocoon. The support we provide is holistic and wraps around our young residents in every area of their lives. In our pilot phase, we provided a home to 11 young women and transitioned from our accommodation into the housing of their choice. We refuse to give up on our young people.”  

Since launching in 2021, Bridge It has raised a huge $2.5M in donations from generous donors,  foundations and corporates including Sir Richard Branson, Mirvac, ANZ, Westpac and AMP to fund the Cocoon project. This funding supports young women to stay in the residence for 12-18 months, providing time to stabilise, learn life and living skills and move positively into adulthood.  

This project marks a private sector, charity, and social services collaboration that integrates lived experience mentoring, therapies like acupuncture, and activities such as zoo visits and cooking lessons, paving pathways to independent housing and employment. Bridge It has had a 100% success rate in its beta program where they placed all 11 Cocoon residents into secure housing. If adopted nationally, this model could be crucial in ending youth homelessness in Australia. 

The expansion marks a milestone in Cocoon’s efforts to provide safe, supportive spaces for Australian youth; made possible through a partnership between Bridge It and Housing All Australians who engaged industry leaders: Mirvac, Dulux, RPS, K2LD, Simon Ellis, Urban.com.au and many others who have donated pro bono work and products valued at $1.5M.  

Elysa Anderson, General Manager Residential Victoria and Western Australia at Mirvac  highlights their commitment: "Mirvac is proud to collaborate with Housing All Australians and  Bridge It to refurbish these apartments, aiming to provide a new home and supportive  community for young people transitioning from care."  

To donate to Bridge It head to: https://bridgeit.org.au/home/support-us/