During what is often referred to as, “The Perfect Storm,” in Australia, the country saw five to six months worth of rainfall and saw an increase in interest rates, labor shortages, increases in material prices, supply chain breakdown and construction site shutdowns. This effectively caused 2,300 builders to lose their jobs, which has further added to supply shortages and created a housing crisis within the country.
According to a report from Homelessness Australia, between December of 2022 and March 2023 the number of people seeking homelessness services as a result of the housing crises rose 7.5%, which is over 6,600 people.
The government of Australia has been struggling to find adequate solutions to address the issues associated with the housing crisis, which has had the largest effect on disadvantaged communities. Lawrence Paulraj, Owner and Founder of LP Constructions Group, began working with the Australian government on solving the issues associated with the housing crisis and has recently been working with the Parramatta Mission to assist the homeless and disadvantaged communities.
According to Paulraj, he is trying to work towards helping solve the housing crisis in Australia by gaining investments that can be turned into funding for construction and development towards housing and land packages. He says the focus to develop affordable housing should be towards urban sprawl going out as there is enough land in the country for urban development, and the cost of construction is cheaper.
One of Paulraj’s goals is building sustainable communities for the local population of Australia but also for the growing immigrant population in the country.
“Australia has a large immigrant population, and with more people set to move into the country it is important that we have adequate housing in place for those who are coming,” says Paulraj. “We need to really begin developing sustainable and long term solutions for the housing crisis, so that everyone can have a home and not have to stress about where they will live.”
Paulraj developed a passion to generate wealth and help people at a young age. Coming from a migrant family he lived in a Christian household where he learned the value of helping people through a thought based on his faith. The objective of the thought was to write down what Paulraj wanted to do with his life as a Christian and since then he has always held on to the belief that his life’s purpose is to give back to people.
In 2019, Paulraj suffered a low point in his life where he had significant losses in his first business. Struggling through a time of depression he was able to overcome the adversity he was dealing with when he was awarded a contract to work on a state civil construction project. He then went on to scale five businesses during the “perfect storm” ;within the property sector such as real estate, civil and fund management; and persevering through it all. Taking this as a lesson, to pivot into house and land packages focused on solving the housing crisis.
“I’d like to inspire people through the work that I am doing within the housing sector. Revealing to people that there is a way to leave a legacy and find their purpose in life while helping each other as a community,” says Paulraj.
