Meet the Household
House You is made up of a committed household – a community of people – who organise to ensure everybody gets a house. Meet the homebodies, housemates, critical friends, foundations, neighbours and residents who make this movement possible.
Homebodies: Core Team
Hold the house together. Organise, mobilise and campaign every day.
Chels Hood Withey
Chels Hood Withey (they/them) is the Founder of House You. After a no-grounds eviction at 26, Chels realised the housing crisis was the everything crisis – and rallied their community to start House You, a movement asking “How are you?” and answering “Let’s house you”. As a renter on the public housing waitlist, Chels knows first-hand what it costs to live without housing security. Living in Mullumbimby on Bundjalung Country, Chels leads House You’s national campaign to get everybody a house, turning complex policy into everyday language everybody can get behind. When they’re not supporting a resident facing eviction, organising a community event, or editing a viral video, Chels is making ceramics, drinking coffee with friends or dancing till the sun rises.
Housemates: Volunteer Leads
The people power, the legends who show up every week.
Noor Bibi
Noor Bibi (she/her) is one of House You’s Housemates. After arriving in the Northern Rivers in 2025, Noor met one of her first friends in the area, Chels, at the Mullumbimby house that House You’s direct action and advocacy saved from demolition and converted into social housing. She was inspired by a movement fighting for something that affects everyone, and she wanted in. What started as small contributions has grown into weekly collaboration across comms and campaign support. Noor values the work for what it teaches her and for its tangible impact on communities. Outside House You, she’s in nature or making art through ceramics, painting, music and whatever else calls to her.
Alana Griffiths
Alana Griffiths (she/they) has a background in disability support work and found her way into becoming a housemate almost by accident. She quickly realised that her love of meeting people, hearing their stories and making a difference in someone’s day was a natural fit for the work House You does. Alana is ready to get stuck into the hands-on, face-to-face work and values the opportunity to get to know the people and communities she works alongside. She loves giving back to the community she calls home, particularly through work in an area that is so fundamental to people and important in this region. Outside of work, Alana enjoys crafting, permaculture and climbing rocks.
More profiles coming soon.
Critical Friends: Advisory Committee
Guide strategy, support growth and expand capacity.
Darran Stonehouse
With a background in social work, research, and political advocacy, Darran has extensive experience working alongside people affected by housing issues. As an academic, they bring a strong commitment to bridging community practice and structural change. Darran is involved with House You because they are deeply passionate about building grassroots, community-driven advocacy and action to tackle the housing crisis head-on, believing that lasting solutions must be rooted in the expertise, power and solidarity of impacted communities.
Selden Koolman
Selden was previously the digital organiser and comms producer for tenant justice organisation Better Renting, and she currently works in neuroscience, helping to map the brain. She has an extracurricular background in campus- and anti-austerity organising, coalition-building, electoral campaigning, workplace labour organising, and media production. She is passionate about uniting her experiences in communications, activism, and neuroscience to reshape narratives around state-run housing and property ownership and to further House You’s big ambitions to rebuild our broken housing system.
More profiles coming soon.
Foundations: Funding & Auspice Partners
Foundational support, the organisations who fund, auspice and back our work.
Foundation for Young Australians
The Foundation for Young Australians auspices House You and was our first funding partner, backing our work since 2025. FYA funded our Housing First, Not Investor First campaign, which helped win the 2026 Budget reform to negative gearing and the capital gains tax discount. We’re now pushing for public housing and rent caps. The FYA Youth Action Team and Youth Media Centre bring decades of expertise in campaign strategy, base-building, media and messaging.
Community Disaster Action Group
The Community Disaster Action Group (CDAG) is a network of 70 organisations across the Northern Rivers advocating for a fully funded, and community led recovery. CDAG auspices House You to deliver Preparedness for You, the first workshop series of its kind in Australia, preparing renters and people facing housing insecurity for disasters. These are the people who have traditionally been ignored and forgotten in disaster planning.
Neighbours: Coalition Partners
The organisations we work alongside. Many voices for the same mission: housing as a human right.
End Rough Sleeping Collaboration Byron Shire
House You is a member organisation of the End Rough Sleeping Collaboration Byron Shire, attending monthly meetings and participating in the Bold Government Leadership and Big Reforms Action Group.
If you’re part of a group or organisation who wants to be involved in a national housing justice coalition, get in touch at office@houseyou.org
Residents: Tenants & Community
The people at the heart of what we do, and the reason we exist. Everybody who wants everybody to have a place to call home.
If that sounds like you, get in touch at office@houseyou.org
We’re growing, and always looking for more hands on deck. Right now we especially need people to help build our national coalition, and people with digital fundraising expertise.