Better Together Housing is a shared housing community based on the Sunshine Coast in Australia, co-created by two charities with the purpose of addressing the rising cost of living and risk of social isolation for women over 55 years old living alone. Their new platform, powered by ToucanTech, enables participants to sign up and connect with people who are interested in sharing their home.

"Having a local Australian office only a phone call away turned out to be more valuable than we first thought when looking at community software options. ToucanTech's willingness to partner with us, really understand our business requirements and tailor the solution accordingly demonstrated they truly are a customer first organisation. ToucanTech are flexible, friendly and fit for purpose.”

Huw Humphreys, Better Together Housing

Providing a smart search function 

As Better Together Housing does not match participants, instead offering the right information for members to make those decisions for themselves, it’s important to be able to easily search and filter results for relevant matches. Members can search by cities, specific names, keywords, or type of member - e.g. looking for a home or offering a home - and can contact members directly through the platform, which is visible to admins. 

Offering the chance for community members to meet in-person

Better Together Housing also runs regular events to give more information about the programme, receive feedback on how to improve resources, and meet programme coordinators. These events also give community members a chance to connect with others in a relaxed, social setting, and new or prospective members can complete their registrations.

Valuable resources to help members get started

Better Together Housing is committed to providing resources to help older women finding and settling into housing, and they have a range of materials available for new members to download, including tips on budgeting and tenancy negotiations. 

Addressing an important and growing issue in Australia, the Better Together Housing community is a brilliant initiative and their new platform will enable the team to grow the impact of their efforts. We're looking forward to hearing about many more great matches from this community in the near future!

To find out more about how Better Together Housing and other ToucanTech customers are creating communities with tangible benefits and connecting members across the country, speak to a member of the ToucanTech team.