Homeless Salvation · funding case · Building Plan 2144109247
How the money works — and where it comes back
A charitable land trust: the charity holds the land forever, people build their own rooms on it with salvaged parts, and pay them off over time. This is what $5,000,000 builds in the Riverland, and how it keeps working long after.
Recommended raise
$5,000,000
Enough to build a real community from day one — not a token pilot. Revive a cluster of existing houses, fund the first wave of self-build rooms on land the trust holds forever, and start a recoverable fund that keeps building more.
Location — the Riverland, not Aldinga
Aldinga Arts Eco Village proves South Australians want this — 350 people, shared common land, private homes — but it is built out, expensive, and on community title you would join, not found, and could not put the land into your own trust. The Riverland (Loxton, Berri, Barmera, Waikerie, Renmark) is where it can actually be built: cheap land, towns that already have power/water/sewer, schools, shops and hospitals, and real work in citrus, almonds, wine and tourism. That work is what makes people stay — the thing a remote Mallee block can't offer. Target a town that still has a school, a shop, a hospital and jobs, with cheap existing housing — Barmera, Waikerie or Loxton are strong starting candidates (confirm prices with local agents: Ray White Riverland, Elders Waikerie, First National Marschall).
Budget — raise $5,000,000
Aim high enough to build a genuine community in one go. $5M funds the blended strategy at real scale, built to two storeys (the realistic township limit): a small cluster of revived houses occupied in year one, plus a large wave of two-storey self-build rooms — together roughly 150 rooms for 140+ people, with a $2.2M recoverable fund already turning.
Strategy — revive a cluster, then self-build alongside
Buy and renovate a cluster of cheap existing houses (often under $200k in shrinking river/Mallee towns) so people move in almost immediately — instant, visible community that attracts the next residents. Hold self-build land beside it where people build their own rooms with salvaged parts (the work sheet). Both sit in the trust; residents pay off at 30% of income. Fast proof of concept + the long-term model, together — your own "buy a run-down area, fix it, draw people" start-plan, made real.
Phasing
Land, houses & setup
Register the trust, buy the house cluster + self-build land, lay/confirm services, lodge approvals, revive the first homes.
Self-build rooms + recoverable fund
First self-build rooms go up; residents repay at 30%; repayments start cycling into the next rooms.
Scale / next town
Recoverable fund + new grant rounds fund more rooms here, or seed a second town.
1Where the $5,000,000 goes
Each line is tagged by how it behaves afterwards — permanent (a lasting asset, never sold), recoverable (repaid at 30% of income and re-used to build the next rooms), or consumed (ongoing running cost).
Recommended budget · $5M · blended (revive + two-storey self-build)
A small instant core. ≈6 houses (often under $200k each) ≈ 25 existing rooms, occupied fast. Kept deliberately small so more money goes to cheaper self-build rooms.
Residents repay at 30% of income → recycles into more rooms.
Land beside the cluster, plus the power/water/sewage main every two-storey block taps into.
≈$14–15k fronted per room (cheaper than single-storey — slab, roof & services shared across two levels) × ≈125 rooms. Residents add salvage + labour on top.
More self-build rooms means more paid supervision — that's what this funds.
2How many rooms that builds
The room is the unit in Building Plan 2144109247 — it's what a person lives in and pays off. Here is what $5M puts on the ground in the Riverland:
Rooms delivered at $5M · two-storey
≈ 150 rooms · housing 140+ people
Revived rooms — fast
≈6 cheap houses bought & renovated. Occupied in year one. ~$44k per room all-in (buy + reno) — instant and visible, kept small on purpose.
Two-storey self-build rooms — cheap
Modular rooms on trust land, two levels. The charity fronts ≈$14–15k each (slab, trades, permit, shared across both floors); residents add salvaged parts + labour. Far cheaper per room, slower to build.
Built to two storeys — the realistic limit in a Riverland township zone (typically ~9m / 2 storeys). That alone roughly doubles rooms per slab and shares roof and services, with no rezoning needed; a third storey would need a specific zone or council support. And 150 isn't the ceiling — the $2.2M recoverable portion is repaid at 30% of income and re-lent, so the same money keeps fronting more rooms year after year. The 150 is just the first wave.
3What happens to each dollar
Three behaviours
Permanent
$1.8M
Houses, land + shared infrastructure. Held in trust, never sold. It doesn't return as cash — it becomes the lasting asset that serves every room now and forever, and stops prices ever drifting up.
Recoverable
$2.2M
Renovation + fronted two-storey self-build rooms. Residents repay it — at 30% of income, or when they sell their room on at determined value. The repayments flow back in and front the next rooms, again and again.
Consumed
$1.0M
Setup, legal, wages, build supervision, contingency. Genuine running cost, funded by donations and grants. A founder/coordinator can draw a fair wage here — but no one pockets profit on the homes.
4The money cycle
Why it compounds
The $2.2M recoverable pool isn't spent once — it's recovered and re-lent. As the first rooms are paid off, the same money fronts the next:
Repayment is slow (set by income), so this plays out over years — but every dollar of build cost works many times over. The $1.8M of houses and land bought once carries all of them.
5The honest parts
Read before committing money
- $5M builds the first wave, then keeps going. It delivers ≈150 rooms (two storeys) and a turning recoverable fund. Bigger still is possible — each new land/house round is a one-time buy that then serves people permanently.
- Charity money can't become private profit. Under ACNC rules a registered charity's surplus must serve its purpose. A founder/coordinator can be paid a fair wage for real work; no one takes the profit on the houses.
- Investors who want a return need a different structure. A charity can accept donations, grants, and repayable no-profit loans. Profit-seeking money needs a separate social-enterprise/impact vehicle alongside the charity — get legal advice first.
- The land held in trust is the safeguard. Because the charity keeps the land off the market, the rooms can't be bought up or flipped — fixing the "watering down" that has undone open communes before.
- Who actually builds matters. People in deep crisis often can't self-build, which is why the budget funds revived move-in-ready houses first, plus skilled supervision and licensed trades for the self-builds.
This document lays out a funding structure and indicative figures only. It is not legal, accounting, or financial advice. Room counts assume two-storey building (the typical ~9m / 2-storey township limit), ≈4 rooms per revived house, and ≈$14–15k fronted per two-storey self-build room, and will move with the actual town, zone, houses, and site chosen. Three-plus storeys would need a specific zone or council support. Before raising or spending money, have the structure reviewed by a community-housing lawyer and a charity accountant, and confirm zoning, height, land, house, services, and approval costs with a town planner.