Nicola Papaioannou

Affordable Housing for Vulnerable Women

The fastest growing demographic facing homelessness are women aged over 55. This demographic is often referred to as the hidden homeless, as they move between accommodation, hoping to find somewhere permanent to dwell. While the causes of homelessness are complex and individual, a structural factor is a lack of affordable and social housing.

Spaces either attract or repel us, unite or work to divide us. What do spaces that are kind, thoughtful, safe, and secure look like? This project aspires to act as an antidote to the hostility of the city, felt particularly by those without a place to call their own among it all. As much as architecture can segregate, i.e., the planning behind Melbourne’s grid, it is most often the space between which lends itself to the practices which build community, culture, and through this, a sense of belonging.