What Home Means To Me – Jason Shaw, Balcon Group
What makes a home? For our partners, the answer often starts with the people, places and purpose behind their work. Here, Jason Shaw, General Manager at Balcon Group, shares what home means to him – and how Balcon’s partnership with Homes for Homes is helping bring that meaning to life.
“Home is so much more than four walls,” says Jason Shaw, General Manager at Balcon Group. “It’s where people feel safe, where families grow, and where a sense of belonging begins.”
For Jason, creating a home is about more than the house itself. It is about creating a world for people to feel connected, secure and part of a community.
“As a developer, we see every day how a well-planned community, with parks, gathering places and neighbours who know each other, turns houses into homes,” he says.
It’s an idea that is central to Balcon’s master-planned Orana community in Clyde North, Melbourne – and one that extends beyond the homes Balcon builds.
Through its partnership with Homes for Homes, Balcon has been able to help create that same sense of security and belonging for people who might otherwise be without it.
Donations made by Balcon on land sales at Orana have enabled Homes for Homes to provide grant funding to social and affordable housing projects, including a grant to charity Kids Under Cover to deliver two relocatable studios for young people at risk of homelessness in the City of Casey – the same local government area in which Orana is located.
The first studio has already made a profound difference for a family that had experienced domestic and family violence. Their previous housing was overcrowded and offered little privacy, creating additional challenges for a family already dealing with significant circumstances.
The new studio has given the children and their carer their own safe and secure space, with room to study, socialise and build independence, while allowing the family to remain safely connected. In many ways, it embodies exactly what Jason describes when he talks about what turns a house into a home – safety, connection and the space to grow.
The impact is perhaps best captured by the words of the children’s mother: “My daughter has made the bungalow her own taking great pride in her space and hygiene. She has got herself a job and enjoys respecting her things and people and generally being responsible.”
Read more: A fresh start after youth homelessness
For Balcon, this is where the partnership with Homes for Homes becomes more than a simple commitment.
The homes and communities being built at Orana are helping create housing for others. What begins with the sale of a property can ultimately help another person experience the safety, stability and independence that having a home can provide.
“That security isn’t a given for everyone, and that’s why partnering with Homes for Homes matters to us,” Jason says. “Being part of a model that turns each home sale into support for social and affordable housing means the communities we create can help make home a reality for more Australians.”
It is a practical example of property and purpose coming together – and of one community helping strengthen another.
For Jason and Balcon it brings the meaning of home to life: a place to feel safe, a place to belong, and a foundation from which people can build their future.
Through Homes for Homes, the property industry can play a practical role in creating more social and affordable housing and helping more Australians find a place to call home.
Be part of the solution. Find out how your organisation can support Homes for Homes and help increase the supply of social and affordable housing.
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Jason Shaw, General Manager, Balcon Group