Safe housing option with history and heart
- Published:
- 22 April 2021 12:46PM
Historic Hanworth House, nestled near the city in East Brisbane, is an accredited residential service that offers short-term, long-term, and flexible accommodation options.
Marisa, who bought Hanworth House in 2014 and undertook extensive, high-quality renovations, says it’s more than just a safe and affordable place to live.
“We believe the community is just as important as the room the residents occupy,” Marisa said.
“It’s a lovely community and we work very hard at keeping that community nice and diverse. It suits people who want privacy but also who want to be social.”
More than 8,000 Queenslanders live in residential services across the state. Hanworth House prides itself on providing more than accommodation. Marisa hosts ticketed events at Hanworth House to help keep rents affordable for residents and supports charities such as the Women’s Legal Service, which Marisa is an Ambassador for.
“The charities that Hanworth House support are a nice fit because this building was originally a hospice for women.”
Hosting these events at Hanworth House offer residents some perks.
“We held an event with a COVID-safe plan as part of Brisbane Festival last year and residents got tickets and enjoyed the event,” Marisa said.
Marisa sets high standards for the operation of Hanworth House to ensure residents have a safe place to live. At the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, Marisa made additional changes.
“We take safety and maintenance seriously here and we always make sure that our residents are happy,” Marisa said.
“I want to have a high-quality service that is safe and attractive to residents that offers them a good lifestyle.”
“During the pandemic we cut down on events, provided hygiene packs in the shared kitchens and placed bottles of hand sanitiser around the property. We didn’t have visitors during lockdown, and we communicated with residents about new people staying in the accommodation,” said Marisa.
Hanworth House is an accredited level one residential service. The property has 23 bedrooms with a mixture of single and double furnished rooms with shared kitchens and a choice of private or shared bathroom depending on the room that you rent.
Accredited residential services, like Hanworth House, provide important accommodation options for people with a range of different housing needs, including some of Queensland’s most vulnerable. Providing accommodation for four or more people, residents may share facilities such as a bathroom or kitchen. Some services also provide residents with food or a personal care service as part of their accommodation agreement.