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Sydney-based brokerage Atelier Wealth has doubled its Homeloans for the Homeless goal, providing 20,000 nights of shelter to homeless families in India.
Mortgage broking business Atelier Wealth, headed up by husband-and-wife team Aaron and Bernadette Christie-David, has doubled its goal of providing 10,000 nights of shelter to those who are homeless.
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The mortgage brokers launched their Homeloans for the Homeless initiative through giving platform B1G1 and Habitat for Humanity in 2020, committing to donate 30 nights of shelter for a homeless family in India for every home loan they settled.
The scheme was established as “a meaningful way to say Thank You [sic] to our clients for choosing Atelier Wealth as their mortgage brokers, without the token settlement hamper,” according to the brokers.
While Homeloans for the Homeless initially aimed to provide 10,00 nights of shelter to underprivileged families in India, it has now provided 20,820 nights of shelter to those in need from 694 home loan settlements over the last two and a half years.
Mr and Mrs Christie-David said the achievement was “testament to the loyalty and support of Atelier Wealth clients, and the commitment of our team and referral partners to make a positive impact”.
“This is an incredible opportunity for our clients to have a part to play in paying it forward and for their loan to have a major impact on a family that needs to have a safe and secure place to call home,” the brokers said.
“Atelier Wealth Mortgage Brokers believes that each loan has the power to pay it forward, change a family’s life and make a lasting impact in the community.
“We believe that the Homeloans for the Homeless initiative is a powerful and inspiring story and like so many of our industry peers, when we share a bit about what we’re doing, it encourages more businesses to look at how to incorporate meaningful giving.
“The goal isn’t to boast, brag, or chest beat but to inspire others to get involved and make a difference in their own communities,” they said.
Mr Christie-David added: “Being part of a client’s journey to buy their home is a rewarding experience – it changes their lives and their families. We wanted to find a way to not only have an impact on our clients’ lives but also within the communities we’re part of.
“From our initial launch of Home Loans for the Homeless and seeing how our team got on board with this mission, I realised we had something special going.”
Building homes in the Philippines
Following the initiative’s success, Atelier Wealth has now committed to build a home in the Philippines as part of its “journey to not only be a good business but to do great things as a business”.
To achieve this, the brokerage will contribute to B1G1 the value of 30 ‘bricks’ to the home for every loan settled. A total of 5,000 bricks (or the equivalent of 167 settled loans) is needed to build the home.
The brokerage said that its long-term goal is to build 10 homes in the Philippines.
The Philippines project was chosen as the brokerage has team members based in the country and they wanted to “tie in building a home in a country that is doing it much tougher than Australia”.
Mrs Christie-David commented: “When I look around at this wonderful country and see how blessed our family is, how lucky we are to operate a business that can have an impact on so many Australian families – you feel a desire to find a way to have a bigger impact.
“Finding a meaningful way to “pay it forward” has become engrained in our business since we welcomed [our daughter] Sienna into our lives. The last few years has really taught us that ‘health is wealth’ and having somewhere to call home is paramount, which many families struggle with.
‘We had a chat as a team and being able to see a home being built that we’ve been part of feels tangible and changes one family’s life. That is something we can all be proud of – our team, our clients and our families.
“We know of so many other businesses who are making similar impacts and the compound effect of this is amazing when you step back and realise what we’re capable of contributing as a business community,” she said.
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