Converting commercial buildings to private dwellings: difficult but possible

31 May 2025

At first glance, it seems reasonable that disused and empty commercial buildings be converted to residential dwellings to help reduce homelessness. But, commercial buildings are designed to be commercial buildings, and converting them into private dwellings can be far from straightforward.

Make Room — a Melbourne, Australia, based initiative that transforms city buildings into homes — however, demonstrates this is quite possible.

“We’re in the middle of a housing and homelessness crisis… we all need to play our part in creating and finding a solution,” Melbourne Lord Mayor Nick Reece says. Reece presides over a city which has an estimated shortfall of 6,000 affordable rentals. “If we do nothing this will almost quadruple to more than 23,000 by 2036,” he says. Make Room demonstrates, according to Salt, “the viability of converting commercial spaces to residential” and he hopes it will inspire other projects.