First tenants prepare to move into Marrickville micro apartments in build-to-rent housing partnership

Walking into her new studio apartment for the first time, Karen Fermin breaks into a wide grin. "It's an amazing opportunity to be in a new apartment, I've never in my life, never lived in a new apartment, or anything new," the occupational therapist says, her eyes welling up. "It was a massive build-up over a really, really long time … and the ballot day itself was really, really emotional," Nightingale chief executive Dan McKenna said. "For older women, who are couch surfing or sleeping in their car, these rents are not cheap," said Beverly Baker, president of the National Older Women's Network, which is calling for more government-funded public housing based on a percentage of someone's income. The Older Women's Network said that given the tax incentives for Nightingale, it was a "missed opportunity" to provide genuinely affordable housing.