Jeanette Large is the CEO of Women’s Property Initiatives (WPI). WPI creates new beginnings for women facing homelessness by providing affordable, permanent homes. WPI houses over 220 women and children around Melbourne through the properties they own and another 200+ people through the properties they manage.
Jeanette has a Bachelor of Behavioural Science, a Graduate Diploma in Business Management, she was a 2015 Telstra Women’s Business Awards finalist, is a certified housing professional with the Australasian Housing Institute and a member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors. Jeanette has extensive experience across the housing sector: from running refuges and local housing groups, to management roles in government departments. Jeanette has worked in youth housing and led a support service for homeless women. Advocating for and working towards the provision of good quality, safe secure and affordable housing as a human right has been a passion for many years. By working innovatively with public, corporate, philanthropic and non-government partners, Jeanette has increased the organization’s size and influence. Jeanette became a licensed real estate agent to help establish a social enterprise, Property Initiatives Real Estate, as a revenue stream for WPI.
Jeanette’s vision is to help disadvantaged women regain their independence by providing good quality, safe, appropriate, inclusionary and secure housing. An ambitious goal but she believes it is being achieved as Australians learn about building better community housing. By providing this basic human need, Jeanette believes this will help break the cycle of intergenerational poverty, decrease public spending on welfare services and increase individual investment, once women have rebuilt their lives.
