New Vision

True to his organisation’s name, Mark Woolley, who leads community housing provider VisionWest Community Trust, is a visionary about what a good home can do to transform lives. “We put people into a house, but then we ask, ‘How can we see your life grow?’,” says Woolley.

- Catherine Smith

Social workers work with families to set goals, whether it’s study, work or budgeting, or even how to run a house to keep it dry and ventilated. “We’re driven by the needs of the family, but start with rents that are only 25 percent of income. That’s the poverty-cycle breaker,” he says.

Woolley believes that transformation is helped by making a place beautiful; it imbues pride and involves people in making their neighbourhood and community a better place to live. He found kindred spirits in Dave Strachan and Pat de Pont of Strachan Group Architects (SGA). De Pont had connected with Mark and Lisa Woolley – Lisa is CEO of VisionWest, Mark heads housing – some 30 years ago so they were a natural choice when the organisation finally bought a piece of land on Triangle Road in 2012.