The Gold Coast delivered on its support of the event ‘What’s next? The Gold Coast’s Next Decade’ held on the 13th July 2023 at the Southport Yacht Club’.

The event hosted by Bennett + Bennett and Zone Planning, saw the release of the ‘Gold Coast Dwelling Supply Study 2023’ report (by Zone Planning) on the availability of Greenfield land for the area. From that report a range of speakers and a panel were put together to provide options and express their thoughts on what can be done to deal with the housing crisis on the Gold Coast.

All monies raised from the event were handed over to The Salvation Army Qld Homelessness Regional Manager Mona Nielsen in the form of a cheque. The donation of $14,888.45 was most appreciated by the Salvation Army which is stretched for resources and funds to support their great work for the Gold Coast Community. Mona had this to say…

'The money will be well spent, all funds will go towards the work of The Salvation Army community work within the Gold Coast, and we are grateful to this group and the Local Housing Industry for this generous donation. It was a pleasure being able to speak at the event and to give the audience a clear picture of what is happening on the ground.'

Rodney Cox of Bennett + Bennett and David Ransom of Zone Planning were there to hand over the cheque to the Salvos.

‘Coming into the event the initial focus was on land supply for traditional house and land dwellings. Through the organisation of the event, the addition of a broad range of speakers covering all areas of dwelling supply opened the idea of the involvement, feedback and input from Mona and her team at the Salvation Army. Mona’s valued input to the event outlined the far-reaching contribution the Salvation Army has within our community. This contribution continues to unfortunately grow through necessity. The growth of the sleeping rough, the working homeless and renting pressures throughout the city highlights the need for solutions moving forward, from within Industry and Government alike. Bennett + Bennett are extremely proud to have jointly arranged the “What next? The Gold Coast’s next Decade.” event with Zone Planning and to be able raise this money through Industry involvement is very rewarding.’

Rodney Cox (Bennett + Bennett)

‘We often forget that the issues of housing supply and homelessness are linked. Our recent event provided the opportunity to examine the dwindling greenfield land supply on the Gold Coast, and to also hear from care providers like the Salvation Army regarding the demands on the homelessness services they provide. Their insights into the growing phenomena of ‘working homeless’ in the City were valuable. The bottom line is that the more constraints that are imposed on the development industry’s ability to house our growing population, the greater the demands on the services of organisations like the Salvation Army to pick up the pieces. We are happy to financially contribute to the Salvos and the good work they do for the homeless in our community’.

David Ransom (Zone Planning)

Thank you all for your support.

Paul Jones (Bennett + Bennett) Ph: (07) 5631 8000 e: marketing@bennettandbennett.com.au