<div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Sherele Moody has spent years mapping the darkest corners of Australian society. </span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>As the founder of the </span><a href="https://australianfemicidewatch.org/projects/" rel="" target="" title="Red Heart Movement"><span>Red Heart Movement</span></a><span>, she has meticulously documented the names and faces of women lost to violence. </span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Now, she is offering a different kind of map: a way out.</span></div></div><div><div id="adspot-mobile-medium"></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The veteran campaigner has just completed a $35,000 crowdfunded renovation of her very first home - a one-bedroom Melbourne apartment she purchased last September. </span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>But instead of moving in or listing it on the lucrative rental market, she is handing the keys over to victims of family violence for the next decade and renting elsewhere. </span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Moody is calling on every landlord in the country to consider doing the same.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"I didn't want to be a landlord," Moody said. </span></div></div><div><div class="OUTBRAIN" data-reactroot="" data-src="//www.9news.com.au/national/i-dont-want-to-be-a-landlord-why-advocate-sherele-moody-is-giving-away-her-investment-property-for-a-decade/1fa9c102-37d6-428c-a0bd-28da59da3d4f" data-widget-id="AR_5"></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"I didn't want to Airbnb it. I didn't want to charge people exorbitant amounts of money to have a roof over their head. I wanted it to be contributing to the solution of violence against women instead of contributing to it."</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><h2><strong><span>A legacy born in violence</span></strong></h2></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Moody has named the apartment Stacey's Sanctuary, in memory of nine-year-old Stacey-Ann Tracy, who was one of two children murdered by Moody's stepfather in 1990. </span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The timing of the project is poignant; this year marks the 35th anniversary of Stacey's death. </span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Moody vividly recalls the day of the murder when she was just 19 years old. </span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>She had returned home to see her family and was picked up from the bus stop by her stepfather just hours after he had killed the young girl.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Moody remembers him being strangely "hyped up" and eager to talk about the missing girl he claimed he was going to help search for. </span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"When I looked back on it, after I found out about Stacey being killed, all of the pieces fell into place, his behaviour, and the coldness of that," she said.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Stacey's Sanctuary is designed to be the exact opposite of that final terror - a place of peace and welcome that tells Stacey's family her life still matters to the rest of the world.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><h2><strong><span>Trauma-informed healing</span></strong></h2></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The five-month renovation, finished this week, was funded entirely by donations and T-shirt sales and was designed with strict "trauma-informed" principles. </span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Moody partnered with the charity You Matter to furnish the apartment and make sure it felt like a genuine home.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"I wanted the property to be somewhere that I would live. I don't think that going into transitional housing means that you have to live in substandard accommodation," Moody said.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Every detail was intentional, from the secure building access that prevents residents from having to walk on the street to their car to the specific furniture layouts inside.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>In the bedroom, the designers chose to include only one bedside table to remove any psychological expectation that the woman living there must re-partner. </span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>By using calming colours and working with psychologists to reduce environmental triggers, the team aimed to provide a space where a woman could finally feel the "breathing room" necessary to save for permanent housing and recover from the impact of her experiences.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><h2><strong><span>A challenge to landlords and government</span></strong></h2></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Moody is currently finalising a partnership with a leading Aboriginal women's organisation to manage the property.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The property will remain in the ownership of Moody, it is her retirement nest egg, but she will hand over the keys to it to the organisation for up to a decade. </span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>It's a move Moody says other landlords should consider.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"If you're in a financial position to do this, if you have property, this is actually one way that we as individuals can help a woman leaving violence be safe," she said.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"I would also say that it's a really sad reflection on our policy makers and on our governments, on our premiers, on our prime minister, on the people who will hold the country's purse strings, that this is actually what we have to do. </span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"Safe and affordable housing is a right for everyone. Women should not face having to sleep in their car or in caravan parks or couch surf in order to be safe, it's not good enough." </span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><em><strong><span>Do you have a story? Contact reporter Emily McPherson at</span></strong></em><span> </span><a href="mailto:EMcPherson@nine.com.au" target="_blank" title=""><em><strong><span>EMcPherson@nine.com.au</span></strong></em></a></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><ul><li><em><strong><span>NEVER MISS A STORY: Get your breaking news and exclusive stories first by following us across all platforms.</span></strong></em></li><li><em><strong><span>Download the 9NEWS App here via</span></strong></em><span> </span><a href="https://apps.apple.com/au/app/9news/id1010533727" target="" title=""><em><strong><span>Apple</span></strong></em></a><span> </span><em><strong><span>and</span></strong></em><span> </span><a href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=nineNewsAlerts.nine.com&amp;hl=en_AU&amp;pli=1" target="" title=""><em><strong><span>Google Play</span></strong></em></a></li><li><em><strong><span>Make 9News your preferred source on Google by</span></strong></em><span> </span><a href="https://9.nine.com.au/8x987w" target="" title=""><em><strong><span>ticking this box here</span></strong></em></a></li><li><em><strong><span>Sign up to</span></strong></em><span> </span><a href="https://login.nine.com.au/edm?client_id=nineatnine" target="" title=""><em><strong><span>our breaking newsletter here</span></strong></em></a></li></ul></div></div>