A not-for-profit real estate agency has opened, with the aim of supporting new Queenslanders and improving the supply of affordable housing.

An initiative of Multicultural Development Australia, Welcome Residential launched in mid-September in Brisbane.

While its non-profit status makes it unique in real estate, Welcome Residential is a traditional agency, according to its director.

The response to the agency’s opening has been positive, according to MDA chief executive Kerrin Benson.

“It’s a very traditional real estate agency but underpinned by the values of MDA – very strong ethics, integrity, non-discriminatory practice and really deeply understanding that when investors rent their property to someone not only do they want to create prosperity for them and their families, but also in that process they’re creating a home for someone else,” MDA chief executive and director of Welcome Residential Kerrin Benson said.

The agency focuses on property management with the goal of sourcing the best tenants for its landlord clients.

The big difference from standard agency practice is that all property management fees are used to support MDA’s work with newly arrived Queenslanders, which includes refugees, international students and skilled migrants, Benson said.

The agency’s property management fees are used to support MDA’s work with newly arrived Queenslanders. Photo: Photo: Rob Homer

“The uniqueness of Welcome Residential is the fees from property management go back to MDA as a not-for-profit. So your fee is going into good work,” she said.

“It seems to really resonate with people because I think there are a lot of people who really want to give, but they don’t have a lot of disposal income to be able to donate to charity or they don’t have a lot of time.

“This is something where you don’t have to find additional income or more time, but you can still make a significant contribution to the work of welcoming new Queenslanders.”

Benson said the agency was not solely for prospective tenants who had recently arrived in Queensland, with an ethos of being “uncompromising” in its tenant selection.

However, if a landlord wanted to help a refugee family, she said the agency could help to facilitate finding one.

“We had a landlord who was very keen, if there was a suitable refugee client, for us to find one and we had a suitable refugee applicant and he was really thrilled to rent to a refugee,” she said.

“We’re just going to find the best tenants for people’s properties but we also know that there are a lot of great tenants that are newly arrived Queenslanders.”

Welcome Residential will also be able to draw on the skill sets of MDA staff to help break down any language barriers of prospective tenants, which can be an issue during standard tenancy applications, she said.

“Sometimes it’s quite hard for real estate agents to understand people’s previous history before they came to Australia,” she said.

“They might have a work record that’s hard to understand, they might have references that are not in English, or it’s hard to follow up people overseas.

“We’re lucky that MDA, the parent organisation, has staff that speak 68 different languages so we’re able to transact some of our business in first language for people.”

The agency is focusing on growing its rent roll at present but long-term goals include helping to increase affordable housing stock via MDA in both small and big ways.

Until then, however, Benson said the organisation had been pleasantly surprised by the positive reaction to the agency’s launch.

“We thought people would be excited but it’s even been a bigger response than we anticipated,” she said.

“I think it’s so effortless for people and our experience is different to what you imagine. We find that there are a lot of really good Queenslanders who just want to welcome new neighbours really.”