Far South Coast community rallies to have Social Justice Advocates' housing units installed as quick as a flash

Helping install the units at Pambula this week were two local teachers, Scott Lipsham and Justin Short, currently on holiday break, Sara Williams from Bermagui, as well as two long-term volunteers Mark Smith and Bill Foxwell, who have dedicated much of their own time since the fires.

"Mark and Bill have been working with me since the fires and one's a qualified plumber and the other is a qualified drainer and they spend three to five days a week volunteering doing this stuff," SJA president Michael Brosnan said.

Mr Brosnan said the two men had been also working on the community sanitation project with Pambula Rotary where 6x7 sheds were being built for fire survivors with full bathrooms to be installed.

"They have saved the community tens of thousands of dollars a month. If I was to bill their hours people would fall over - they'd faint," he said.

The tally of donations has also gone up again - the total now sitting at $238,000.

Most recently there was an incredible local philanthropic donation of $50,000 that went straight into the SJA It's Up To Us housing campaign.

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A former Pambula beach family also recently donated $25,000. Those funds will be allocated to general SJA works and be divided between the various groups within the organisation.

"Part it will go to housing but it's not earmarked as closely as the other donation which was directly for homelessness, but they both came in on the day and I thought that was a pretty good day," Mr Brosnan said.

"I mean, that's really standing up, it's fantastic and it hopefully will encourage others - even if it's $50, $5, it doesn't matter, it's the thought that counts," he said.

READ MORE: Bega and Pambula sites allocated for Social Justice Advocates transportable housing units

The first two units arrived to be installed at Reflections Holiday Park in Pambula on Friday, June 24, with a deposit already put down on a third unit - possibly to also be installed at Pambula.

One of those units has been installed, with Mr Brosnan indicating that a family had already been allocated the unit to live in. The second unit would be finished by the end of the week with a single parent family earmarked to move in.

The families would have up to six months of occupancy before needing to find somewhere else more permanent.

Mr Brosnan said he had ordered the next two units that would be delivered to be installed on grassland behind Bega Uniting Church on Gipps Street. The church plans to work towards converting the site into social housing in the future.

SJA has also put down a deposit on the fifth and sixth units as well, with the option to also install them at the church in Bega.

"The community has stumped up donations for our homeless and we're converting it to housing as quickly as we can," said Mr Brosnan.

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Mr Brosnan said SJA was also looking at a seventh and possibly an eighth unit for Eden, however the organisation was still on the hunt for land. He said that while the money was in the bank he preferred to have it spent on housing units sooner rather than later.

"The community has donated that money so I want to get houses, and I'm waiting on sites in Eden but I've waited six months so I'm determined just to get the houses where I can and keep working on Eden down the track," he said.

Mr Brosnan said the purchase of the units, transportation costs, timber for the decking, and costs to hook them up would be somewhere between $35,000 - $40,000 each.

SJA was expected to make an announcement next week about a new date for its fundraising concert at Longstocking Brewery in Pambula that had to be postponed in April 2022.

Mr Brosnan said they were expecting to raise even more funds that would all go directly towards the purchase of more housing units for the community.

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