QUT Design Lab had the privilege of co-hosting the first ever Homelessness Hackathon in Australia, together with partners Marist180, Orange Sky Laundry, Common Ground QLD, River City Labs, and The Incus Group, funded by the Department of Housing’s Dignity First Fund.
This is the first in the world of its type to include pre-event direct engagements with people who are currently experiencing and have previously experienced homelessness, to capture their authentic, lived experience ensuring their voices are strongly represented at the event. Dr. Jaz Hee-jeong Choi, the Co-Leader of the Social Entrepreneurship Program in the QUT Design Lab led this engagement project with our PhD students Alice Brown, Carlos Estrada Grajales, and Anna Svensdotter, as well as a QUT Creative Industries graduate, Charmay-Adele Yule. It involved creative engagements that encouraged active listening, co-creation, and open dialogue based on care.
Other QUT communities were present as the participants and volunteers, in addition to Creative Enterprise Australia who provided fantastic prizes including 4 months hot desk membership at The Coterie, QUT Mentoring with CEA, and legal hot-desk support with Hopgood Ganim.
Every team at the hackathon was invited by the Hon. Mick de Brenni, Minister for Housing and Public Works and Minister for Sport, to present at the Parliament, which demonstrates the kind of genuine effort that many people put into making this happen, as well as the outcome itself. Read the Minster’s blog on the event here.