An empty ownership of elderly care has been converted into safe and hospitable homes for women who experience homelessness in southwest Sydney.
Glenfield House has officially opened its doors of its ‘Meanwhile, use’ project by Homes NSW, Women’s Community Sheltergers and Hume Community Housing.
For Chloe Barton, co-founder and recruitment director at Impact Advice, Glenfield House represents much more than bricks and mortar.
Raised by a single mother who has endured family and domestic violence, Mrs Barton first experienced the instability and fear of living without a safe house.
For Chloe Barton, Glenfield House represents much more than bricks and mortar. Images: delivered.
“I grew up by a single mother, it was myself and my younger sister,” she said.
“The relationships of my mother both with my father and then relationships after my mother and dad separated were pretty volatile and violent.
“Frequent violence was in our houses, resulted in my mother who had to leave the parental home and often had really uncertain housing options for us.”
More: Sydney Charity Packing the Female Dakeless Crisis
Chloe Barton and her mother
Chloe Barton and her younger sister Hayley
Mrs Barton said this meant that they would spend nights on the banks of friends or in hotels.
“It was quite a chaotic environment growing up and unfortunately my sister and I witnessed my mother who were the victim of domestic and family violence in our own house,” she said.
Mr Barton said that her lived experience translates into why Glenfield House is so important to others.
“I have experienced the instability and fear that is accompanied by life in an unsafe environment where family violence is present,” she said.
“A service such as Glenfield House and the wider support that Women’s Community Shelterden offers offers a safe environment for women to get access to support and to be able to leave for their own safety and safety of their children if they are mothers.”
More: Nedd Brockmann reveals everything at Rea Group’s Ready25
Chloe Barton and her younger sister Hayley
Chloe Barton and her mother
Mrs Barton said that the work of the hiding places of women and specifically the Glenfield House area would have made a huge difference for herself, her little sister and her mother, by giving her an option to leave, which unfortunately she did not always have.
Mrs Barton and her team at Impact Advision have joined volunteers from various companies to help compile furniture for the project, to convert empty rooms into spaces of comfort and dignity.
Chloe Barton and her impact advise colleague Building Furniture in Glenfield House
“It was a real privilege to be asked to do volunteer work and help build the furniture – we walked in and there was a mountain of flat pack -furniture ready to be built,” she said.
Mrs Barton said that the team in Women’s Community Shelterden can support to create the spaces in Glenfield House and so that every woman would also have his own space independently in their rooms.
“The entire environment of the shared space is such a warm and hospitable environment, it was great to be part of it,” she said.
Glenfield House officially opened its doors on September 15, 2025. Image: Cassandra Hannagan.
Glenfield House Official opening. Image: Cassandra Hannagan.
Glenfield House also offers common areas. Image: Cassandra Hannagan.
Glenfield House offers 28 safe beds for older women with renovated bedrooms, communal loungers, new kitchens, laundries and bathrooms plus facilities for specialized support on location to help older women to help the risk of homelessness or to rebuild their lives.
Government and community partnership delivers ‘homes’ ‘homes’, reuse vacant or under-utilized properties in transition accommodation.
The project was made possible with the $ 446,450 Labor Government’s Homelessness Innovation Fund and supported by the NSW minister of Housing and Homelessness Rose Jackson and NSW Minster for planning and public spaces Paul Scully.
These changes followed on the historical investments of $ 6.6 billion of the NSW government in social housing and homelessness to deliver more houses and fund specialist homelessness solutions, announced in 2024.
More: GOVT Buy Houses to facilitate the housing crisis
#Glenfield #House #opens #doors #safe #haven #homeless #women #southwestern #Sydney #realestate.com.au