Carrington Cottages is a registered not-for-profit association that provides 104 rooms for men, women and couples who have been rough sleeping in Adelaide. We believe that everyone has a right to a home of their own, but that some people need safe, secure transitional housing to live in while they work with support services to deal with the issues that made them homeless.
Our residents stay with us for three months to a year. We say to all new residents that our ambition is to find them a place of their own, where they can live fully independently, and that we expect them to work with us and our partners to make that happen.
Our residents are supported by case workers from the Towards Home Alliance, Hutt Street and similar organisations. Other specialist agencies provide advice and support on drug and alcohol, mental health, employment etc.
After a period living with us our tenants have a proven track record of paying rent, have demonstrated that they can live harmoniously with others and are ready to take on a place of their own. We work with South Australian Housing and Community Housing Providers to find suitable properties for our residents. We provide them with furniture to equip their new home and we, and our social work partners, provide support to help them settle in. As a result our former tenants’ failure rate in their new home is very low, which encourages long term housing providers to offer properties to our residents.
We can equip a new home with second hand furniture for around $3000. With so many residents moving on. This is a major cost for us and so any support that you can give will be used to equip a new home for someone who has recently been sleeping on the street.