Community housing providers are having to raise rents for their tenants because of the ever-increasing costs of utilities.

This is affecting some of the poorest and most disadvantaged people in our society.

To change this situation,  St Kilda Community Housing has joined with The People’s Solar to establish the first ever crowd funding project to kick start the first round of funding needed to put 15Kw of power on the roof of one of our rooming houses.

Do you want to help disadvantaged people and the environment at one and the same time?

Then help St Kilda Community Housing raise the money to raise the solar panels on our roof.

Fund the First Step of this project today. Help us raise $30,000 to install solar power and LED lighting.Each year, for over twenty years, we expect the average value of energy savings to exceed $5,000. These savings will be used to support St Kilda Community Housing tenants through the T2M program, training them into semi-skilled work and employing them in property maintenance services. In some instances, savings will be passed on to tenants in need, to free up their disposable income. $1,000 is enough to train one of our tenants into semi-skilled work. This might sound like it’s making a small difference, but in fact it can change a life.

01. Over twenty years of our solar system operating, we expect to save as much as $100,000. If fully invested in training and employment, that’s enough to support up to 100 of our tenants into semi-skilled work.  For every $300 donated to this project, one of our tenants could have the opportunity to get their life back on track through our program.

02. With up to 15kW of solar power and LED lights, we can save approximately $350 on energy bills per annum, per tenant at 56 Jackson st. That might not sound like much, but it could mean the difference between going without life’s essentials, or getting by.

This is just the start. We will be providing more details on the next project phase once we have raised $30,000. Our next phase will include crowdfunding $20,000 for battery storage and hot water upgrades, saving us an additional $3,000 per annum on gas, and optimising the value of our solar power production. Finally, we plan to raise up to $50,000 to install a green roof, increasing resilience in the event of heatwaves, enhancing the local ecology, and providing a platform for extending our work with tenants through T2M.