Sydney Mansion Becomes Safe Haven for 57 Homeless Women

When Julie lost her son, her ability to work, and her partner during the pandemic, she thought she'd lost everything. Then she found herself moving into an 18-bedroom mansion overlooking Sydney Harbour.

The property wasn't a lottery win. It was Mosman House, a former private hospital turned temporary shelter for women over 50 facing homelessness.

After Mosman Private Hospital closed in 2019, the building sat empty while its owner, Twilight Aged Care, navigated years of planning processes for redevelopment. Instead of letting it collect dust, the company partnered with Women's Community Shelters and Link Wentworth to create transitional housing.

From 2020 until construction began, 57 women found refuge there. Julie was one of them.

"It just helped me so much to have that safe place to sit back and just try to work out what the hell had happened to me," Julie said. She now lives in permanent housing nearby and stays in touch with women she met at Mosman House.

The model is called "meanwhile use," where vacant properties awaiting sale or redevelopment become short-term housing. Women's Community Shelters first tested the idea at Beecroft House in Sydney's northwest and now runs four other meanwhile-use properties across the city.

The timing couldn't be more critical. Over 10,000 older women are waiting for social housing in New South Wales, up from 7,700 a decade ago. Across Australia, the number of older women accessing homelessness services rose 8 percent every year between 2011 and 2025.

Why This Inspires

More than 80 percent of women who lived at Mosman House moved directly into permanent housing. That success came from a simple but powerful idea: empty buildings shouldn't sit vacant when people need homes.

The model requires properties to be empty for at least 12 months, ensuring women get stable accommodation without sudden displacement. Social housing providers work throughout each woman's stay to secure permanent housing before the meanwhile use period ends.

NSW Housing Minister Rose Jackson is backing the approach. "We are looking at ways we can deliver roofs over heads quickly, and meanwhile use is a really emerging part of that," she said.

The biggest challenge is convincing property owners to participate. Some worry about "vacancy risk," the concern that tenants might slow construction once final approvals come through. That's why having a dedicated social housing provider as part of the model matters so much.

Onsite manager Robyn Mathot-Gwozdecky watched the Mosman House community form. When it came time to move out, she personally assured each woman they'd be taken care of. "It's a very important thing, and was very important to me," she said.

Women's Community Shelters CEO Annabelle Daniel is now pitching the model to developers across Sydney, showing them how their empty buildings can become bridges to permanent housing while generating social good instead of sitting idle.

Julie's story shows what's possible when creative solutions meet urgent need, and when compassion finds a way to turn waiting time into healing time.

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