The NSW Federation of Housing Associations (NSWFHA) today welcomed the State Government’s announcement it will provide an extra 1200 homes through Phase 2 of the Social and Affordable Housing Fund (SAHF) and prioritise housing for older women.
NSWFA Wendy Hayhurst said the 1200 additional homes should bring to 3400 the number of new social and affordable homes provided through the SAHF.
Click here to read NSWFA’s media release.
Venture Housing Company, in collaboration with Zest Projects, has completed its first Specialist Disability Accommodation (SDA) apartments in Palmerston, near Darwin.
The eight new and spacious apartments are fully accessible, having been built and certified to Platinum Level LHA standard.
The properties have set a high benchmark for future SDA dwellings; the two-bedroom, one bathroom units and three-bedroom, two bathroom units, all have courtyards. They are housed within a complex that has been designed for its ease of access, which also offers a separate carer’s overnight assistance unit and an accessible swimming pool.
Also in this complex, Venture has three-bedroom, two-bathroom apartments with large balconies that will be available at below market rent under the National Rental Affordability Scheme (NRAS), for low to moderate income earners in the Territory who are struggling to find suitable, affordable accommodation.
These properties will be targeted at key workers who are vital to the Territory’s economy, such as those in the retail, hospitality and trade sectors.
Venture is a ‘For Purpose’ (not-for-profit), housing provider of safe and affordable housing options for Territorians with a strong vision for growth. To achieve this, Venture works with a number of stakeholders including the Northern Territory Government, the private sector and other non-government organisations through partnerships to deliver housing projects.
Venture also provides and manages housing for seniors and is working towards innovative solutions to the provision of housing for disadvantaged groups in the community.
Potential tenants can visit Venture Housing’s website for vacancies and eligibility criteria.
The WA State budget was handed down in parliament on Thursday by Treasurer, Ben Wyatt.
This year’s budget is, like last year, set against a backdrop of falling State revenue, a budget deficit and increasing public sector debt. State Government forecasts suggest that it believes the worst is over in terms of the post mining boom slump. However, only modest growth is forecast in terms of State final demand, employment and Government revenue. WA’s population growth has slowed sharply since 2014 and low population growth is expected to continue according to the forward estimates.
Download CHIA’s briefing paper on the WA budget.
Over the past month, CHIA has been working with the National Association of Housing Providers (NAHP) and the Commonwealth Department of Social Services (DSS) on giving National Rental Affordability Scheme (NRAS) investors more timely advice on the status of their incentive claims.
The aim is to improve transparency and accountability under the NRAS arrangements.
DSS will soon begin publishing lists of the dwellings they have received incentive claims for, the date the claims were lodged and the date they were processed. These regular updates should reduce the number of inquiries to the department and to providers from NRAS property owners about the status of their claims.
By including the date the incentive claim was lodged, the investor will be reassured that the processing of the claim was progressing rather than wondering if the claim had been submitted at all. This will also give the investor has some idea of when to expect their Refundable Tax Offset certificate or payment from the approved provider.
This is one of a series of process improvements that DSS, CHIA, and NAHP have been working on in response to the unflattering audit report on the scheme that was released last year.
Providers involved in the NRAS would have noticed that the department has reduced its turn-around time for processing claims to an average of 32 days this year, which is roughly a third of the time taken in past years.
The CHIA Board has appointed John Nicolades as Vice-Chair, to share some of Chair Michael Lennon’s representational and advocacy workload.
John is already a CHIA Board member, fulfilling the role of the Region Director for New South Wales.
In addition to being the CEO of Bridge Housing, John has held senior positions in the NSW Government and the community services sector.
Michael Lennon says the need to create a vice-chair position is evidence of the organisation’s sustained growth over the past 12 months.
Michael says John was the obvious choice for the role, given the commitment he has demonstrated to the development of a strong national peak body.
Australia needs 20,000 new affordable properties each year to house low income people, according to one recommendation by the Committee for Economic Development of Australia (CEDA).
CEDA’s released its report Housing Australia, which warns that Australia’s housing affordability challenge could have long-term budget and political implications as more people retire without owning a home, or end up on the city fringe.
CHIA CEO Peta Winzar was on the panel at the Melbourne launch of the report.
Í welcomed the Commonwealth Government’s budget package as an important first step in addressing the issues surrounding housing affordability, but the CEDA Report shows clearly how much work still needs to be done,’ Ms Winzar says.
Ms Winzar also urged the Victorian Government to identify more government land to be developed or redeveloped for affordable housing.
CEDA Research and Policy Committee Chairman, Professor Rodney Maddock says, ‘Prolonged housing affordability issues will result in more people entering retirement without owning their home and low socioeconomic households pushed to outer or regional areas where transport infrastructure is poor and job prospects are lower.
‘In the long term this could have budget implications for governments as more people become reliant on government assistance,’ he says.
‘With most Australians choosing to live in our major cities, it is likely the trend of more people living in apartments and more long term renters will become permanent and we need to accommodate this better with increased protections for renters.
‘In addition, we also need to ensure better transport and infrastructure to accommodate increased inner city density and to connect outer suburban developments to employment hubs.’
You can download a copy of the CEDA report here.
With house prices — and more recently, rents — surging in the Eastern State population hubs, it is no surprise that housing affordability has become a key political issue.
The Federal Government has begun to set its mind about how best to ease the pressure on those feeling the negative effects of rising prices, principally aspiring first time buyers, low income renters and the homeless.
Against this backdrop, the performance of the National Affordable Housing Agreement (NAHA) has come under intense scrutiny and Productivity Commission data released earlier this year provides plenty of evidence that meaningful reform is required. Despite over $9 billion dollars being invested by the Commonwealth since its inception in 2009, NAHA has underperformed against virtually every performance indicator.
In 2016, the number of public housing dwellings in Australia was down more than 16,000 on the 2009 numbers and almost 21,000 less than in 2007.
The number of low income renters in rental stress has risen significantly in some states, with capital cities seeing the steepest rises. Note that this has occurred in tandem with a 20 per cent increase in spending on Commonwealth Rent Assistance since 2012.
Public housing waitlists have grown, not shrunk, and almost 20 per cent of public housing dwellings and 11 per cent of community housing dwellings are not of ‘an acceptable standard’.
There is a silver lining: the community housing industry has doubled in size since 2009 and now manages over 80,000 dwellings nationwide in a system that is considerably more sophisticated and innovative than it was a decade ago. Moreover, homelessness alleviation programs operating with NAHA support have yielded some very positive results in terms of addressing the housing and support needs of those at the sharpest end of the housing continuum.
The Community Housing Industry Association (CHIA) believes that measures announced in the May Federal budget show that the Commonwealth is interested in fundamental reform and, hearteningly, that it believes community housing providers have a significant part to play in that reform agenda.
At the same time, the Productivity Commission’s latest draft report Introducing Competition and Informed User Choice into Human Services contains several game changing suggestions for reform. These include: moving to a single model of financial assistance that would see public housing tenants become eligible for CRA; creating competitive neutrality between all social housing providers including state housing authorities; and, the expansion of tenancy support services to eligible households in the private rental system.
Due to the nature of the scope of the report, however, it is largely silent on how to address perhaps the most fundamental question of all — how to grow the social and affordable housing system.
CHIA and the state-based peak bodies provided a joint response to the draft report in July.
Policy measures in the budget, combined with the work of the Productivity Commission, have set the scene for the reform of the NAHA. There can be no sacred cows; the case for structural reform regarding how the nation’s social housing system is funded, managed and regulated is irrefutable.
CHIA will continue to argue that a central pillar of reform must be enabling the community housing system to continue its growth trajectory, harnessing its ability to attract private finance, developing new housing stock, providing services that sustain tenancies and creating pathways to the mainstream housing system for tenants capable of making that transition.
Barry Doyle, CHIA Project Director WA
Members from around the country voted yesterday to make some changes to CHIA’s constitution in a move that will strengthen CHIA’s relationship with state peak community housing bodies.
CHIA Chair Michael Lennon says members overwhelmingly supported the changes at a Special General Meeting, held in Adelaide.
‘This is an important milestone for CHIA. These constitutional changes will streamline and formalise the relationship between CHIA and the state peaks, enabling them to provide advice and input to the CHIA board on matters relevant to their state.
‘We anticipate that the Community Housing Federation of Victoria and the NSW Federation of Housing Associations will seek associate membership of CHIA, which will enable them to nominate a Director to the CHIA Board.’
In other states and territories, members will continue to elect the Region Director who will represent them on the CHIA Board.
‘In bedding down our formal relationships with each state and territory, CHIA is in a stronger position to provide a nation-wide perspective on national issues for the community housing sector,’ Michael says.
Grab the opportunity to have an impact on Victoria’s housing affordability crisis in this challenging part-time role as a policy and projects role for the Community Housing Federation of Victoria (CHFV).
In this part-time role – 30.4 hours a week (can be worked over four or five days) – you will play a critical role in policy development, project management and advocacy for the community housing industry body. You will be working closely with our member organisations, government and other stakeholders to develop, promote and represent the sector.
Click here for details.
The community housing sector in Queensland has expanded its influence nationally with a landmark agreement between the state peak body, CHPs for QLD, and the national peak, the Community Housing Industry Association (CHIA).
The bilateral agreement means that membership of CHPs for QLD will include membership of CHIA, which represents the community housing industry in all states and territories.
Chair of CHPs for QLD, Josephine Ahern, says the agreement will enable Queensland community housing organisations to have input into national policies that impact on their day-to-day activities and lift their ability to expand services to meet the needs of disadvantaged Australians.
‘CHPs for QLD is focused on representing the sector on State issues but Federal issues also impact on our members,’ Ms Ahern says.
‘This agreement with CHIA will provide a forum for our members to have their voices heard, it will enable them to be kept in the loop on Federal matters and they will also be able to access CHIA’s resources.’
CHIA CEO, Peta Winzar, welcomed the agreement formalising the relationship that has been fostered with the Queensland community housing peak.
‘We are keen to get input from CHPs in QLD about national policies and sector-wide matters,’ Ms Winzar says.
‘We want to hear the perspectives of Queensland providers on national matters, be it housing affordability in general, the new National Housing and Homelessness Agreement, or the impact of climate change on community housing operations. This agreement will open the way for this to happen.’
The community housing sector has delivered a comprehensive response to the Productivity Commission’s draft report into human services, including housing, which was released in June.
The submission was a collaborative effort between CHIA, the state and territory community housing peaks, and other key industry players.
The submission advocated for a whole-of-system approach represented by a National Affordable Housing Strategy, which would carefully coordinate initiatives across all levels of government, the public, not-for-profit and for-profit sectors and which would make necessary reforms to tax, welfare and housing assistance programs in a coherent way.
“The “broken” system described in the Draft Report derives not from a lack of mechanisms to support consumer choice and a deficit in the accountability of public housing systems, though both need to be tackled. It derives from decades of underinvestment that has left the social housing system struggling to cope with overwhelming demand. A social housing system that is not broken caters not just for the choices of individuals but needs the needs of the community generally – by providing homes that are decent and well-maintained, by supporting inclusive and integrated communities and by ensuring that providers are accountable to tenants and financially sound.”
Representatives from CHIA and the NSW Federation of Housing Associations will present the report to the commission’s public hearing in Canberra on Tuesday, July 25.
Click here to read the full submission.
Shelter SA welcomes the Targets outlined for social housing in the next financial year, in particular the revised claims process for Housing SA Bond guarantees to increase protection for private renters.
The activity indicator on the number of public housing rental opportunities provided by Housing SA is reducing from 38,710 (the 2016-17 Estimated Result) to a projected 34,050 in 2017-18. The reduction reflects approximately 4,000 properties that will be transferred to the community housing sector and it is assumed that the remaining 660 of those properties will be sold, further reducing the public housing available to people living on low incomes across South Australia. The overall reduction in public housing will worsen housing stress for people living on low incomes and potentially increase the number of people experiencing homelessness, adding further strain on an at capacity service system.
Shelter SA is very pleased that there has been no reduction in assistance to people living on low incomes through the Housing SA Private Rental Assistance Program with a slight increase in customers expected in the next financial year. It is also pleasing to see a slight increase of 415 high needs clients who will be placed in housing by Housing SA, no reduction in the number of rough sleepers assisted into accommodation through specialist homelessness services and a modest increase in the number of Aboriginal customers assisted into housing by Housing SA from 4,230 to 4,590.
The National Partnership Agreement on Homelessness, now combined with the National Affordable Housing Agreement is assured in the South Australian Budget for the next 12 months – $18.1 million in partnership with the Commonwealth Government. The new National Affordable Housing and Homelessness Agreement is yet to be negotiated.
A new revenue measure will see foreign residential property buyers pay a stamp duty surcharge from 1 January 2018 which will amount to $48.8 million over four years – it would be ideal if some of this revenue could be used to create more social housing and avoid the need to continue to sell off our public housing assets.
Click here to view the SA State Budget.
With thanks to Shelter SA for this report.
Sydney-based community housing provider Bridge Housing took out a gold award at the 2017 Australasian Reporting Awards for its 2016 annual report.
It was Bridge’s fourth consecutive gold award and fifth overall.
The Annual Report Awards are aimed at improving the communication of business information and the standards of financial reporting and are designed to enable organisation to benchmark the quality of their annual reports against world best practice.
Bridge was competing against entries from New Zealand, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Indonesia, India and Russia.
Bridge CEO John Nicolades says, ‘The recognition we receive through these awards is warmly welcomed and further motivates our Board, management team and staff to strive for best practice governance, communication with our stakeholders and financial reporting in the year ahead.
‘Bridge Housing takes pride in being an organisation that always works to high governance standards and transparency. Congratulations to the other winners for their hard work and achievement.’
You can view Bridge’s annual report here.
Entries for the 2018 ARA will open on September 1.
CHFV Board member and Swinburne University academic Terry Burke has put up a spirited argument in support of community housing as a sound platform for fair social housing in an article featured in The Conversation this morning.
CHFV mobilised its response in The Conversation to tackle recent criticisms made in the online publication, and other media, around the transfer of public housing to community housing as the government ‘wriggling out’ of its responsibilities.
Prof Burke clearly states the case for community housing providers playing a key role in public housing renewal programs.
‘The (not-for-profit) sector can grasp the opportunities offered by policy reform in a way the public sector cannot, and provide sustained affordability and security,’ Prof Burke argues.
Click here to read the full article.
Don’t miss your opportunity to hear about major issues impacting our sector, directly from those in the hot seat.
Book your seats now to hear from Assistant Minister to the Treasurer, the Hon Michael Sukkar, about the Federal Government’s housing initiatives such as the bond aggregator, and Productivity Commissioner Stephen King, who is presiding over the current investigation into ways to improve the delivery of Human Services – including affordable housing.