In an industry first, The Urban Developer has entered into a strategic national partnership with the Property Industry Foundation to help build awareness and raise funds for youth homelessness in Australia.
The partnership will leverage The Urban Developer community of property professionals across a range of initiatives including editorial coverage, event promotion and integration, fundraising events, as well as representation on the Board of Advisors and Future Leader committees.
“Every night there are 45,000 young Australians without a safe and secure place to sleep. When we realised that the Property Industry Foundation exists to solve this problem, our involvement became a no-brainer,” The Urban Developer founder Adam Di Marco said.
The Property Industry Foundation leads an industry-wide collaboration through the foundation’s flagship home building program—the Haven Project—which aims to build 300 homes by 2025.
The foundation fundraises to build each home in the Haven Project with each dollar raised being matched with in-kind donations of skills, labour and goods from the property and construction industry.
“From an industry perspective, we need to find new models and solutions for housing our most vulnerable. It’s about doing it better, smarter and more efficiently,” Di Marco said.
“From a community perspective, we need to invest more in housing that provides young people with the opportunities to make meaningful contributions back to society. Building housing is an investment, not a cost.”
The Urban Developer will be supporting the foundation’s program of events in 2024 that include Charity Golf Day (VIC), PIF Sailing Regatta (NSW and QLD), Hike for the Homeless (QLD), Steps for the Homeless (VIC), Pedal for PIF (QLD), Tour de PIF (NSW), Property Industry Trivia Night (QLD), Backseat Sleepout (QLD) and Tour de PIF (VIC).
Additionally, Di Marco will be appointed to the Board of Advisors in Queensland and staff of The Urban Developer will be appointed to the Future Leader Committees across the country.
The foundation has been building and refurbishing homes for homeless youth since 1996 and is supported by more than 130 companies in the property and construction industry.
This partnership follows recent strategic partnerships between The Urban Developer and the Urban Land Institute (ULI), Cadent Technologies, Ready Media Group, MSCI and BCI Central.
