The Corneilia Program, delivering specialist housing support to women

Women make up the majority of tenants in social housing and are by far the greatest users of Specialist Homelessness Services across the country. Despite this demand, mainstream housing support services and policy aren’t equipped to address all of their unique needs.

The Alfred Felton Bequest is proud to have been an initial philanthropic funder of the Cornelia Program (with a grant of $150,000 over three years), as a forward-thinking program delivering specialist housing support to women. The Cornelia Program was launched to support women and babies who are highly vulnerable. It is estimated that one-third of female single parents and their children are living in poverty.

The Program – a collaboration between the Royal Women’s Hospital, HousingFirst and Launch Housing – has designed a holistic and innovative approach to increase women’s access to housing by bringing together leaders across multiple sectors. In this way the program can address the underlying cycle of homelessness and gender-based disadvantage, as well as health and psychosocial outcomes.

Grant Manager, The Alfred Felton Bequest, Emily Cormack, said. “Participants have access to accommodation for up to 12 months and receive specialist maternity health services, along with support to access other health and psychosocial programs,”she added “They are also provided with guidance and support to access long-term and stable housing.”

The Victorian Government recently matched philanthropic funding up to the value of $3 million, which means the Cornelia Program should be able to run until at least 2026.

Read more stories like these in our 2022 Annual Giving Review or find out more about philanthropy here