On the longest night of the year, Thursday 22 June, Canberra’s CEOs and leaders will sleep out for homelessness in the National Museum of Australia’s Garden of Australian Dreams – where the word ‘home’ is emblazoned in 80 different languages.

The Vinnies CEO Sleepout has raised a few eyebrows over the years, along with the millions of dollars for homelessness support services. Christine Shaw, of Blackshaw Manuka, “throws down the gauntlet” for naysayers to take part.

One night, she says, is all it will take to change the way you think about homelessness.

“Every year, I meet people who have been cajoled into turning up. You talk to them at 6am that next morning and they are a different person,” she smiled.

“I can understand why people think that this is tokenistic … I’m not even experiencing zero-point-one per cent of what a homeless person is going through.

“But what I experience in a 12-hour window is that kick in the head that I think everybody needs.”

Christine and fellow CEO sleeper, Dan Cusack, director of Revive Landscapes, are hoping to take a mallet to the “homeless stereotype” and change mindsets in their own industries and beyond.

“If you dial back 20 years ago and ask someone about homeless people, they will say, ‘yes, I see them at the shops, or under a park bench, sleeping rough’,” says Christine.

“The definition of homeless has morphed in a bad way over the last 20 years.

“The biggest difference I see today among the ‘have-nots’, is that you can be working right next to someone in a government cubicle who is currently facing homelessness.”

The 2016 Census revealed that almost a third (30 per cent) of people experiencing homelessness are employed in some capacity, many of whom are working full-time.

Often, “homelessness” isn’t limited to sleeping rough, explains Dan; it can be couch-surfing or gapping. He talks about a mate – a fellow business owner – who is currently sleeping in their car.

“I don’t think they necessarily see it as a massive issue, which talks to how strong they are as a person.

“But this individual doesn’t have a cosy place to return to at the end of a busy day, to switch off and try and get a good night’s sleep, before starting it all again the next day.”

Christine says she’s “a little bit weird” in her industry – a real estate agent with a background in social policy in overseas aid, and refugee and humanitarian programs.

Within her first two years in real estate, she founded Investors Can Help, which connects about 50 refugee families in need of rentals with investors who are willing to assist every year.

According to Christine, it continues to be the only social impact model for real estate in Canberra. “But I do believe over time, inch by inch, others will start to think differently.”

Despite being prone to pneumonia, her enthusiasm for sleeping out each year is unmatched, being the top individual female fundraiser since she started in 2021.

This year, Christine throws down her “other gauntlet” to any female leaders in the community to take on that title.

“You don’t need to be a CEO to be part of the CEO Sleepout. Sometimes women look at their business cards and decide ‘I’m not a CEO. This isn’t for me’.

“If you’re in charge of your own network, you can sleep out with the rest of us.”

The 2016 Census saw a shocking 31 per cent spike in homeless women over the age of 55, making them the fastest growing group to experience homelessness in Australia.

“At 61 years of age, I know people who, within a month, went from the traditional married in a four-bedroom home, to homelessness, because of divorce or cancer or other turmoil in their lives.

“If you were a stay-at-home mum, you would not have had the advantage of 30 years of superannuation, and you don’t have that backdrop when you reach retirement age. It’s horrendous.”

It’s the sixth CEO Sleepout for Dan, who was inspired after riding around in a Vinnies Night Patrol Van with his mum.

“Handing a sleeping bag or a cup of tea and a sandwich to someone who needs it … [you realise] they’re not always that stereotype we associate with homeless – quite often it’s a mum or a dad after a busy day at work.”

His goal for this year is to encourage Canberra’s small business owners to pull up a sleeping bag.

“It’s always going to be called CEO Sleepout [but] small business owners are generally connected to a network.

“Running a business already comes with a lot of responsibility, but you can turn that around and use that responsibility for something that has a positive impact,” Dan says.

Up for the challenge? Visit ceosleepout.org.au to register or to sponsor a participant.

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