Turning mountains of landfill into the ultimate renovation rescue

It’s been years since Mostafa “Moz” Azimitabar had a home of his own – one with a kitchen including a fridge,table and chairs or a new bed with a fresh pillow and clean sheets straight out of the packaging.

He’s had places to sleep inside of detention centres on Manus Island and in Port Moresby,and more recently two hotels in Melbourne. But nothing resembling a home.

A year ago Azimitabar became the first employee of the non-profit organisation ReLove,in Sydney’s Botany. It was ReLove’s founders Renuka Fernando and Ben Stammer who fitted out his empty flat in Petersham,even making the bed for him.

“They won’t give me a permanent resident visa,but this makes me feel like I am an Australian person. I can live like one. I can invite people,friends,I can cook for you,” said Azimitabar,a Kurdish refugee. “It turned my house into a home.”

The household goods were free. They were new or in excellent condition and,in contrast to most services like this,he could choose what he liked and needed at ReLove’s warehouse for people in crisis,which serves as a department store with no cash registers.

It was a transformative experience for Azimitabar,and it’s one he’s helped ReLove replicate in 720 homes in the past year. Since the pandemic began,ReLove has provided about $9 million worth of furniture and white goods to a total of 900 homes.

Re-Love employee Mostafa Azimitabar,a Kurdish refugee,left,next to founder Renuka Fernando in the organisation’s Sydney warehouse.

Re-Love employee Mostafa Azimitabar,a Kurdish refugee,left,next to founder Renuka Fernando in the organisation’s Sydney warehouse.Flavio Brancaleone

Fernando describes the non-profit as an accidental charity that exploded during the first lockdown when so many people were COVID-spring-cleaning. “There was so much good quality stuff on the street that we thought,‘Let’s get five people out of a refuge’.”

From there,they grew into a non-profit that is rehoming 15 families a week. “We’re talking about pretty much everything you need to set up a home. Often ... families come to us with multiple children. So we can be giving people $10,000 to $15,000 worth of goods every time they move,” said Fernando.

“It’s a pretty powerful model,” he said,“because all[of it] is donated to us – football fields of furniture[which is] not going to the landfill any more.”

Recently,a woman fleeing domestic violence was browsing at ReLove’s warehouse. “She has nothing,her home is empty,” said Fernando. She selected chairs and couches – some brightly coloured from companies such as the Commonwealth Bank,which is refurbishing.

The woman could choose artwork,bedside tables,coffee tables (one with the $200 price tag still on it),and cling-wrapped,unused ottomans donated by hotels. New towels,fake flowers and other bits and pieces donated by Ikea were also available for her to choose from.

Mattresses donated by Koala tower to the ceiling. Silky bags contained new bamboo sheets made by Ettitude,which volunteers gushed over as they stroked them.

ReLove is increasingly working with corporates that want to offload office furniture,and retailers who have surplus or last season’s stock or returns,but Fernando said she is also looking for financial backing to allow it to expand.

So far,ReLove has received support,including warehouse space,from construction company Built. And volunteers – including some from software company Atlassian – are helping every week.

Fernando said that when she’d visit people who had been allocated housing,she often find they had nothing to put inside them and that some occupants were “sleeping on the floors”.

“We are giving people agency at a time when they have no empowerment,” said Fernando.

Many clients have been impacted by domestic violence,women who left home in a hurry with their children and only a few plastic bags of possessions. Others include those experiencing homelessness,as well as asylum seekers and men and women coming out of prison. About 50 per cent are Indigenous.

For Azimitabar,working at ReLove is a way to give back. “I received good support from people when I was in detention. And when I am working at ReLove,it is a way to help other vulnerable people,and it helps to heal my own trauma.”

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Julie Power is a senior reporter at The Sydney Morning Herald.

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