Helping Group

Helping Homes · On standby

Ready for the next emergency.

Helping Homes is a seasonal service that connects people affected by emergencies with a spare room, paddock space or transport offered by their community. It stays on standby between emergencies, and it says so plainly.
Contact Helping Group

Not activated right now. The app is temporarily offline between emergencies.

Last reviewed

000In immediate danger? Call 000 first.

What you can offer or find

Three kinds of practical help.

People with space can offer it. People affected by an emergency can search an Australia-wide map for it.

  1. Accommodation

    A spare room, home or safe place to stay. Offered by people with space, and found by people who need somewhere safe.

  2. Paddock space

    Temporary space for livestock, horses and other animals. Offered by people with land, and found by people moving animals out of harm’s way.

  3. Transport

    Help moving people, animals or essential belongings. Offered by people with a vehicle, and found by people who can’t move things alone.

How it works across a season

Standby, activated, then back to standby.

We don’t manufacture urgency between emergencies. The Helping Group board decides when to activate: when Australia has a natural disaster, and when good Samaritans are offering temporary accommodation to its victims at a scale that needs our intervention.

  1. Step 01 · Standby

    Ready, not alarmed.

    The platform and public information are kept ready. The map stays visible, but offers not reconfirmed within two weeks are removed automatically, so it only shows current offers. Most of the year, that means very few or none.

  2. Step 02 · Activated

    Published, with sources.

    We publish the affected region, the time of the latest update and links to official emergency information.

  3. Step 03 · Back to standby

    Ready again.

    When the emergency has passed, the service returns to standby until the next one.

What it isn’t

A neighbour, not a first responder.

The record

Built for one summer. Kept for the next.

Helping Homes began during the 2019–20 Australian bushfire season. The first question was practical: could people with a spare room or property make it easier for someone evacuating to find a safe place to stay?

The platform now supports offers of accommodation, paddock space and transport.