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Twilight Aged Care is participating in a local initiative to temporarily repurpose Jamieson House Twilight as a home for displaced women over 55.

The Beecroft House: Housing Partnership Project will provide financial and residential support to the homeless, and give 20 women housing accommodation for the next 2 years. The project will convert Jamieson into a safe and welcoming space and give the building a new name, ‘Beecroft House’. The initiative aims to enhance the lives of these women and give them independence through housing pathways and support services.

The Beecroft House: Housing Partnership Project is the collaboration of the Hornsby council and over 6 organisations in North Sydney area, including the Women’s Shelter, Twilight Aged Care and Link Housing. The majority of these companies, including Twilight, are offering services to the Women’s Shelter project free of charge, including the lease for the building itself.

Twilight Aged Care contacted the Hornsby Ku Ring-Gai Women’s Shelter and offered two year access to the building rent free. Neil Wendt, the CEO of Twilight, said

“Twilight was founded 100 years ago to support women that required assistance. This wonderful initiative goes to the roots of the company’s values”.

This spirit of charity is shared by organisations like The Generous and the Grateful, who have donated the furniture for the building. The organisation works alongside 5 star hotels undergoing refurbishment, and saved any ‘outdated’ furniture for the women’s shelter. The National Projects and Maintenance group, are also providing their services and 40 workers to renovate Beecroft House for free.

Maraget Maljkovic, Chief Operating Officer at Link Housing, spoke about the great need for affordable housing at Beecroft House‘s community information afternoon. Maljkovic said the housing partnership is especially important for older women in the Sydney area where living prices are high. In this way, Beecroft House will provide opportunities for women to get back on their feet in times of financial or personal crisis.

The project aims to work closely with local people and businesses. The Women’s Community Shelter has set up a Facebook page for people to see the construction progress. The page offers opportunities for the community to help out the home with activities such as gardening, painting and cleaning.

Beecroft House is hosting an Open Day on Friday 9^th August with free tours of the home, to mark the beginning of the project for interested members of the community. For more information, click here.