She didn’t get to show her slides on the night, but if you asked Jacqui Forst what Kiama should be doing differently, she’d answer with one word: partnerships.

At last week’s housing forum, Jacqui - a social worker and service innovator with experience across NSW Health, aged care and the not-for-profit sector - proposed something bold to flip Kiama’s housing narrative from stuck to strategic.

Her slide deck, titled “Innovate Kiama”, points to global and local models that are already delivering housing solutions with social, environmental and economic impact.

Among them:

• Nightingale Housing, a not-for-profit group delivering architect-designed, low-energy apartments for low to middle-income residents, underpinned by values of affordability, transparency and community.
• Havilah Place, right here in Kiama, was named as a potential Nightingale-style demonstration site.
• International examples like Birmingham Dreaming City, Dark Matter Labs, and Glasgow’s Our Town initiative, all of which use strategic partnerships to drive regeneration and social infrastructure.

Jacqui’s key proposal was to activate Draft Housing Strategy V2 Recommendation 26 of the Draft Housing Strategy, the final action line most readers skipped over, and turn it into something real.

She wants KIama Council to help convene a housing reference group of local residents, funders, venture capitalists, urban futurists and strategic risk holders such as insurers and superannuation funds.

The goal? To co-design and support a portfolio of real world, system-led demonstrations that tackle the housing crisis through local innovation.

She also proposed a Kiama Hackathon, where residents, planners, architects and builders could prototype new ideas and break through regulatory constraints together.

“This doesn’t have to be a pipe dream,” Jacqui said. “We’ve got the land, the knowledge and the urgency. What we need now is structure, trust and investment.”