LJ Hooker CEO urges real estate industry to use its resources to tackle homelessness

LJ Hooker CEO Christine Mikhael is encouraging her real estate and property peers to step forward and be part of a national conversation about homelessness as the crisis deepens across Australia.

Her call to action comes ahead of the 2025 Vinnies CEO Sleepout, which will be held on Thursday 19 June 2025 in cities around the country.

“Collectively, the real estate industry has considerable reach, knowledge and influence," Christine said. "We are problem-solvers and we understand housing. That puts us in a position to push for lasting solutions that make a real difference.

“The Sleepout is one night and, while it can never be considered lived experience and we should never pretend that it is, it is meaningful. It gives people the chance to listen and learn from those who have found themselves living on the street. It should also help us grasp the scale of what is happening across the country and that a long-term solution is needed to change it.”

It's 20 years since the first Vinnies CEO Sleepout was held. This is Christine's fourth consecutive year and her second as an official ambassador. Since its inception, it has raised more than $200 million to support emergency accommodation, food and health services, and long-term programs to help people exit homelessness.

Hundreds of business and community leaders, CEOs and executives will spend one of the longest and coldest nights of the year sleeping rough to raise funds and awareness for the growing number of Australians experiencing homelessness.

Due to a lack of resources, more than 3,400 people were turned away from Vinnies’ housing services in Sydney over the past 12 months. Crisis beds are near full across all service providers, with women aged over 55 the fastest-growing group facing homelessness.

“This is not a networking event and its impact goes above and beyond fundraising. This is about drawing attention to a system that is failing too many people,” continued Christine. “Services are stretched, demand is rising and the crisis is shifting. One in three people who reached out to Vinnies last year had never needed help before.”

Christine’s commitment to the issue goes well beyond the CEO Sleepout. During her teenage years, she helped establish a Vinnies youth group and school conference at St Leo’s College in Wahroonga, and regularly volunteered at a local shelter supporting people experiencing homelessness.

Now, having spent almost 40 years in real estate, she sees an opportunity for industry stakeholders to take a leading role in discussions around housing supply and accessibility for the country’s most vulnerable.

“We shape the conversation around housing when it comes to value and availability, and we are heavily involved in its future. Yet the issue of homelessness is rarely part of that discussion,” she said.

“We talk about supply and affordability every day. We find people homes, whether they are buyers or tenants, first home buyers or investors, but those words mean little to someone who is locked out of the system and cannot afford a home at all.

“These are people who have worked their entire lives, raised families, and still cannot secure a safe place to live. That reality is hard to reconcile when you work in housing every day.”