On 29 March 2019, CHIA WA made a submission to the Review of the Local Government Act, WA, regarding the issue of rates exemptions for land in charitable use.
The Local Government Act (the Act) currently provides that all land is rateable unless it is listed as exempt. Land used exclusively for charitable purposes is exempt from rates. All but one of CHIA WA’s members is a registered charity.
The meaning of “land used exclusively for charitable purposes” is not defined in the Act. This lack of clarity has not been to the benefit of either community housing providers or local authorities, as much time and resource is lost in contesting whether exemptions are due or not.
CHIA WA’s key recommendations are set out as follows:
Whatever the outcome of the review, CHIA WA supports the need for clear definitions setting out when rates exemptions/minimum payments are due to community housing providers and CHIA WA would be happy to assist in working out the detail of those definitions.
Such clarity will, hopefully, result in consistency of approach from all local authorities. The current regime is applied differentially across local government, which creates uncertainty for our members. CHIA WA supports a clear and consistent approach to the issue of rates exemptions.
CHIA WA’s position is that the loss of rates exemptions for charitable community housing providers will significantly reduce the amount of money available to our members to provide low cost housing and support services to those in most in need in WA. If rates exemptions are lost, other parts of government will need to step in and fund these services or, as is more likely the in the current fiscal climate, these services will be lost.
For this reason, CHIA WA seeks the retention of the rates exemption for charitable community housing providers.
CHIA WA submission to the Leasehold Strata Titles Regulations Discussion Paper
On 14 February 2019, CHIA WA and Shelter WA made a joint submission providing feedback on Landgate’s Discussion Paper for leasehold strata schemes.
The Discussion Paper presents a new and important opportunity for strata development and more importantly the provision of affordable housing options in Western Australia, with potentially wide-reaching opportunities from this new form of strata title.
The submission made 4 key recommendations as follows:
There should be no lower time limit, i.e. 20 years, to leasehold strata schemes and the ability to create short-term leasehold strata schemes should be widened to everyone, not just the Housing Authority or any other government agency.
There is no core need for a formula to be included in the regulations, rather there should be flexibility for both lessor and lessee, when putting the scheme together, to negotiate the by-laws when developing the scheme.
We support the recommendation for the ‘not to be unreasonably withheld clause’, provided it is very clear that it would be reasonable to withhold if the result would be the property would be lost to affordable housing for the duration of the lease.
In terms of disclosure at the time of transacting with a leasehold strata scheme, we strongly recommend information be provided to the buyer to ensure they understand what they are purchasing.
Last week, the National Housing Finance and Investment Corporation (NHFIC) issued its first bond of $315 million to community housing providers (CHPs). CHIA congratulates NHFIC on their success in providing the single largest social bond in Australia.
NHFIC’s bond will ensure funds raised be loaned to CHPs to help deliver more social and affordable housing across the country. The bond will provide a fixed rate of under 3.00% for 10-year, interest-only loans to CHPs who are participating in NHFIC’s first round of loans. BlueCHP, CHL, Compass, Hume and Unity are all part of the NHFIC scheme.
As a result of NHFIC’s bond, CHPs are provided with greater financial certainty and cheaper finance which will generate better cash-flow. The funds will be used to create up to 300 new affordable rental dwellings, enhanced support services and ongoing maintenance.
“The NHFIC interest rate is significantly below the rates that the community housing industry can typically borrow and means our members can put more money into building new homes,” said Wendy Hayhurst, CHIA CEO.
Nathan Dal Bon, NHFIC’s CEO, said he’d like to thank the many stakeholders who have helped with the success of NHFIC’s first bond; including the community housing sector, state governments and bond investors.
“NHFIC is very pleased at the exceptionally strong level of investor demand for its first affordable housing bond which was four times oversubscribed. We are now able to pass on the benefits of NHFIC bonds through to CHPs which ultimately benefits tenants on lower incomes,” Mr Dal Bon said.
NHFIC will work closely with the community housing sector and investors to regularly issue social bonds in the future and create more affordable housing in Australia.
The Community Housing Industry Association (CHIA) and its members express our sympathy and support to the victims and families of the shootings at the Al Noor and Linwood mosques in Christchurch. Our thoughts are with all people of New Zealand at this time.
Community housing is home to many Muslim people. Our members also employ many Muslim people. We stand in solidarity with them and the communities of New Zealand and are united in condemning this outrageous attack . With our members CHIA will be investigating practical actions we can take to promote respect and harmony.
On behalf of the communities we serve, the community housing industry stands strong against racial hatred and anti-immigrant prejudice for which there is no place in today’s society. It must end.
With International Women’s Day on 8 March, it is a fitting time to look at women’s role in the community housing sector. Of the 26 community housing providers from six jurisdictions that participated in the 2016 House Keys Workforce, the data indicated that 72% of employees the community housing sector are women.
For senior managers, 66% were female and 34% male. Interestingly, there were a greater proportion of men on board of CHPs, with 60% male board members and 40% women.
CHIA spoke to leading women in the community housing sector to hear their insights on women’s place in the sector. Jill Ritherdon (CEO and Company Secretary, Venture Housing), Leonie King (CEO, City West Housing) and Michele Adair (CEO, Housing Trust) gave their perspectives below:
Do you think the community housing sector is a good field for women to work in?
J.R: The sector provides excellent opportunities for women, at all levels of their career and in a broad selection of roles. I would go so far as to suggest that this sector is a significant employer of women, particularly in those roles that directly interface with tenants. And women are well-represented in senior executive roles across Australia. The entire staff at Venture are women. This was not by design but, rather, the women who applied for the roles when advertised, had the successful combination of business acumen, the requisite qualifications and experience, good negotiation and problem-solving skills, initiative, empathy and a desire to work with and for purpose.
L.K: The sector provides a unique opportunity to balance social and commercial issues, to focus on specific client groups or a diverse cohort of people, to work for big or small organisations, regional providers or metropolitan providers. It is a growth industry with a wide range of disciplines and the opportunities are there to be taken or created. It’s a great sector for anyone to work in, not just women, however the diversity of the sector and the services we provide means there are many more opportunities for women than in some other industries.
M.A: Absolutely, it’s a wonderful sector for women. Community housing is the perfect social enterprise as it provides the head-heart alignment many women look for in their careers. Our businesses are very commercial with big property budgets and long-term asset portfolios. We work closely to support tenants living with complex needs and we actively engage in the media and political arena. It doesn’t matter what skills, qualifications or interests you have, they’re needed in this sector. As with all sectors, more diversity leads to better business outcomes and better societies.
In your opinion, what changes need to be made to further assist women working in the community housing sector?
J.R: In broad terms, more flexibility for parents (of any gender) of young children within the parameters of the operational needs of the organisation. However, I do believe that the Community Housing sector is, for the most part, a leader in this area. And more one on one coaching of younger women and encouragement to pursue relevant professional development.
L.K: While the sector is diverse and the role of community housing providers multi-faceted, there are still some divisions along gender lines. Notwithstanding this there are a growing number of women in a broad range of leadership roles in the sector, both in management and on community housing provider boards. Those of us in leadership roles need to support and mentor other women to ensure they can develop their skills and to encourage them to stay in the sector for the long-term. I have been very fortunate in the opportunities I have been given throughout my working life, including in the past 10 years or so working in this industry. If I can help create positive change for other women in the sector and for the women who need our services, then I would feel like I have given back.
M.A: The Housing Trust is very supportive of all staff and use the demands that are still more commonly placed on women as the basis for our employment practices. It’s an approach all organisations should adopt. Staff have flexible work arrangements, and we’re White Ribbon accredited and provide 10 days additional family and domestic violence leave. Everything we do reflects our company values – respect, integrity, support and collaboration. We all role model what it means to be a working woman: making choices and keeping lots of balls in the air. The education system has failed to provide the essentials many people need to progress from entry level to team leader and executive roles. We need to invest in work literacy, numeracy and communication skills to make it easier for women to progress. And of course, I’d love to see more leadership development and mentoring programs. There are some great ‘women in trades’ groups, professional services firms with project managers, and allied health service providers. We need to learn from people outside the community housing sector, not just from within it.
Homelessness is on the rise among Australian women, what do you think our sector needs to do to help them?
J.R: The staggering rise in homelessness among Australian women, particularly those over the age of forty-five years, is utterly unacceptable in a caring society. The CHP sector needs to continuously lobby governments to take a longer-term and bipartisan view on this issue. Solving homelessness (particularly for older women) needs to be a joint CHP sector / government (of all persuasions) approach. Government-owned land should be identified and gifted (with appropriate caveats) to the Community Housing sector.The not-for-profit Community Housing Sector has taxation advantages which it can leverage and also tends to be more nimble than governments in both negotiating and delivering social and affordable housing. An area for the government to also consider is taxation incentives for the developer than engages with the CHP in the construction of such (or similar) dwellings.
L.K: If we can create more safe, secure and affordable housing that is suitable for women, including older women and single parents, then we are taking positive first steps to help address the ‘new homeless’. If we can go that one step further and help ensure that these women are supported to be able to sustain their tenancy, to secure part or full-time work if of working age, to help broker access to affordable child care to allow them to work or to reduce social isolation for older single women then we would be really hitting some goals. None of this is particularly easy but it is certainly a worthwhile ambition for all of us in the sector, not just the women who work in community housing.
M.A: Firstly, we need the Commonwealth and State Governments to make the provision of safe, affordability housing a priority. Planning, housing and transport need to be aligned and conversation changed for the cost of purchase to crisis in rental affordability. Of the 10 largest job categories in the future 60% will be low paying so a very large number of Australians will never own a home. With the right policy settings and investment, the community housing sector will do its share to help combat the rise of homelessness.
What changes do you hope to bring to the community housing sector?
The main change I want to see is the sector at least quadruple in size. I’ve been in the social affordable housing sector for a long time now and seen the amazing difference it can make for people on lower incomes to medium key-worker housing as well. I hope I’m joining at a time when there is going to be opportunity to make those changes, and to make sure that community housing can be the main delivery vehicle for better housing.
How do you feel your past experience will help you at CHIA national?
There’s work we’ve been doing in NSW which I’d be interested in taking forward nationally. We’ve been focusing on not just how we build and get more social affordable housing, but also how we make sure the services we deliver to people are excellent too. There’s very little point in delivering new housing if the standard of services doesn’t match that. One of the projects that I’m keen to take forward is developing tool kits for providers. This will help them respond to people with complex needs and see how we can potentially adapt and roll it out nationally. We also need to look at the gaps. One of the areas may be veterans. It’s an area that most community housing providers probably haven’t heard about because people don’t always identify themselves as veterans. So, to develop a suite of resources that builds on the work from NSW. Victoria is leading the way in energy responses to energy efficiency. In South Australia there’s a lot of good work that’s gone on in disability housing. The Northern Territory, Queensland and Western Australia could tell us a thing or two about remote Aboriginal housing. What I’ve learnt is it’s easier to work together and collaborate, rather than doing things from scratch.
What are the biggest challenges the community housing sector faces?
I’m not 100% sure that governments understand the importance of social and affordable housing. It’s still too often seen as a welfare service, and something that people only need or require when they’re in a particularly vulnerable position. It isn’t necessarily seen as a type of housing that’s needed on a long-term basis. One of the challenges for us is to make sure all governments understand housing is a fundamental, social and economic infrastructure. In the very recent past we’ve seen governments change housing policy almost overnight. That really prevents long term investment and therefore growth in social and affordable housing. We need to get the argument across that this is fundamental, and governments should invest in it. It’s not a subsidy. They should invest in it just as they invest in transport or the utilities.
The second big challenge is to make sure the industry gives back as well. It isn’t just about asking government to invest, but also making sure that we build excellent property. We need to have a property standard that we can aspire to, so that properties are there for all segments of the population. It’s a great sector, but it’s only a great sector if it delivers. The project that we want to take forward is developing our own standards as an industry – the National Community Housing Standards. It will be saying how we intend to respond to people who have a disability, people who have experienced domestic and family violence, what we’ll give all our tenants in terms of customer service – those sorts of things.
With the upcoming national election approaching, how do you see the community housing sector’s relationship with government evolving?
I hope that we’ll be seen as a partner. People don’t enter community housing to make loads of money. They usually enter it because they are really committed to the concept. I think we are trustworthy and reliable. In that respect, we should be given more of a say in terms of how and what’s required. So, when government has a policy or programs it wants to introduce, it should be sitting down with us. Because we’re not going to be looking at that program and thinking how much money we can take out of there to pay high salaries. We don’t want to be seeing a program that’s already been designed and having to come afterwards and say, ‘I think you need to tweak it here or tweak it there.’ Because in the end, the people that lose are the government and the tenants.
What are some of your past achievements in the sector?
At CHIA NSW, we worked with Aboriginal housing providers that weren’t our members. We are now partnering with an Aboriginal Community Housing Industry Association in NSW. I’m really pleased about that as its new to me, and I just seriously believe that you never know everything. One of the best ways of keeping young and enthusiastic and energetic is to learn new things. We were able to work with those amazing Aboriginal community housing providers and they’re recruiting at the moment for their first board. They’ve been in existence as a shadow organisation, but they’ll be launching to the world in March with a brand-new board. The great thing is they are not treated by government in the same way the mainstream is. The second thing I’m really pleased about, was setting up the NSW Community Housing industry Council. I’m hoping that council is where the idea of government being seen as a partner will become real. The council’s purpose is to ensure a strong and viable community housing sector in NSW. Wouldn’t it be great if we could take that – of which the Aboriginal Community Housing Association is a member – and make it national?
What needs to be done to properly implement CHIA’s National Plan?
We need a National Community Housing Council. We also need the country to recognise that it needs to have a proper understanding of housing need. If you’re going to plan for housing, you need to recognise it is an important, economic infrastructure. There needs to be a national framework for housing-needs assessments. There also needs to be state and regional housing-needs assessments. So when we do get investment, it is put into where it’s needed. The Strengthening Economic Cases for Housing Policy is a step in the right direction because it shows what can happen if we plan housing properly. The impact on productivity is tremendous.
The National Regulatory System for Community Housing (NRSCH) has announced that from 1 July 2019, the compliance history of CHPs registered under the NRSCH will be published on its website. The aim of these changes is to promote overall confidence in the sector, by making it clear that the sector is effectively regulated and transparent in its reporting.
The key changes are:
The compliance information history for all registered providers will be displayed on the National Register – including any targeted assessments created after 1 July 2019.
Any CHPs listed as non-compliant from that date will be shown on the Register (but notices of non-compliance issued before 1 July 2019 will not be listed).
Where relevant, Executive Assessments of CHPs will also be shown on the Register, to provide a positive counter balance against the non-compliance record.
This is the second phase of planned changes which seek to improve the transparency of publicly available information. The first phase, was implemented in May 2018 and improved the information recorded about providers and, where relevant, any regulatory action taken.
The NRSCH has stressed that the vast majority of CHPs are assessed as fully compliant with the NRSCH requirements. Just five providers have had an overall judgement of being non-compliant, and one of these providers has been de-registered. However, some CHPs will be impacted immediately once the new public reporting of compliance histories is rolled out. At the end of 2018, 11 providers had been issued a notice of non-compliance in relation to some element of the NRSCH requirements. Three of the 11 are no longer registered with the NRSCH.
The NRSCH has assured CHIA that CHPs will be given several months’ notice of the Registrar’s intention to publish the notice of non-compliance on the National Register.
In the City Deal announced by the Morrison Government last week, all three levels of government have come together to improve Hobart’s housing for Tasmanians on low to moderate incomes.
Three community housing providers in Tasmania will benefit from the deal. Housing Choices Tasmania, Community Housing Limited and CatholicCare Tasmania are the three providers who will be receiving the funding, and they are all members of Shelter Tasmania and the CHIA Tasmania group. $30 million has been allocated to creating over 100 new affordable dwellings in the greater Hobart area, in a partnership between the government and the community housing sector.
“Our Hobart City Deal will open the city and Tasmania up for locals and for the world,” Prime Minister Scott Morrison said.
Shelter Tasmania, the peak body for housing and homelessness in Tasmania, welcomes the government’s move to increase the supply of affordable homes across the state’s capital.
“Given that Hobart is now Australia’s least affordable capital city for renters, here is an urgent need to boost the supply of social housing and address Tasmania’s rental housing crisis,” said Pattie Chugg, Executive Officer of Shelter Tasmania.
“It is great to see the City Deal recognising that housing is essential infrastructure,” she continued.
Currently, the community housing sector in Tasmania manages 6,076 properties – with this number only due to increase following the Government’s City Deal.
“Initiatives like this need to be implemented on a much larger scale to deliver social housing to meet our state’s escalating need. We call on State and Federal Governments to invest in housing as a top priority,” Ms Chugg said.
The Community Housing Industry Association today rejected claims by two think tanks that reforming state government taxes and charges, planning laws, and delivering rental subsidies to renters would be enough to solve the problem of rental affordability.
“While we agree that state and territory governments must do more to address supply restrictions, simply increasing the overall stock of housing will not be enough to ensure housing is affordable for those on low and moderate incomes,” CHIA CEO Peta Winzar said.
“Over the past decade, more and more households on higher incomes have joined the rental market. They squeeze out those on lower incomes looking for affordable places to rent. Even as we build another 180,000 homes each year, the supply of affordable rental dwellings for lower income households continues to fall.
“It is disappointing to see how ill-informed many of the critics of National Rental Affordability Scheme are,” she said.
Commenting on suggestions by John Daley of the Grattan Institute that the flat-rate NRAS subsidy has resulted in a preponderance of studios and small apartments in cheaper locations, Peta Winzar said Daley was talking through his hat.
“Just 37 per cent of NRAS dwellings are studios or one-bedroom units, she pointed out. “and two-thirds of NRAS dwellings are in capital cities. This suggests NRAS investors weigh up both the long-term value of their investment as well as the recurrent subsidy”.
“Nor is the overall profile of NRAS dwellings inappropriate,” she said, “Far from it. Over half the low-income renters receiving Commonwealth Rent Assistance are single people without children for whom studio and one-bedroom apartments are very suitable.”
“Daley’s suggestion that the NRAS is ‘pretty poor value’ is a view that would be highly contested by 34,000 NRAS households. The NRAS is not perfect, but it does aim to ensure that the additional housing supply is directed to those on lower incomes.
Ms Winzar also rejected suggestions from the Centre for Independent Studies that if the Commonwealth Rent Assistance program wasn’t working it should be cut.
“The rent assistance program is critical in improving rental affordability for 1.3 million low income renting households,” she said.
“Rather than cutting this program, we suggest it is well overdue for a make-over. Designed in the mid-1980s, this program has failed to keep up with the increases in rents and the changing demographics of Australian households. Even with Rent Assistance, two in every five recipients pays more than 30 per cent of their income in rent. Almost half the 900,000 low income households renting in the private market in our capital cities are in rental stress.
So what can be done?
“The Community Housing Industry Association believes Australia’s rental affordability problem most certainly can be solved,” Peta Winzar said.
“We need a long-term national plan to deliver enough housing to meet the needs of all of us – renters and home buyers on low and moderate incomes. Our housing market needs to be efficient – and that means reforming Federal as well as state taxes, charges and planning systems. We need a diverse housing profile that better matches the needs of our population. We need the contribution of all levels of government, the private sector and the community housing industry. It needs the thoughtful, informed contributions of our think tanks. And yes, it needs programs like NRAS that explicitly focus on increasing supply of affordable rental housing for people on low and moderate incomes.”
That was CHIA CEO Peta Winzar‘s response to advice that the Senate Environment and Communications Legislation Committee had rejected a Bill to pilot a scheme to improve the energy security of low income renters.
‘The evidence put to the Committee about the poor thermal qualities of rental housing was compelling’ she said:
in the ACT 43 per cent of rental properties have a 0-star rating,
In South Australia, less than four per cent of renters live in homes with solar panels,
In Victoria, 58 per cent of private renters and 55 per cent of public renters live in a house with ceiling insulation, compared to 95 per cent of home owners/buyers, and
in Queensland, 40 per cent of renters live in properties with insulation compared to 80 per cent of owner occupiers.
The Bill proposed by Senator Storer envisaged a three-year pilot program offering up to $2,000 to landlords, including community housing landlords, to improve energy efficiency of buildings and appliances. The Committee acknowledged that many Australian households struggle with high energy bills and that improved energy efficiency will result in lower energy bills and improved health and wellbeing of tenants. However, it recommended that the Bill not be passed, suggesting that further consultation into this ‘complex policy area’ was needed.
While describing the energy efficiency of rental properties as seriously inadequate, the committee noted several concerns raised in Submissions: that better energy efficiency might lead to higher rents, that the $300 weekly rental threshold proposed would exclude many renters, and the maximum incentive of $2,000 per year may be too low to fund many improvements and would have a low take up by landlords.
‘CHIA will take this issue up with both the Government and the Opposition, she said, pointing out that channelling these funds through community housing operators would be an effective way to address each of these concerns.
‘Income-linked rents in community housing avoids the problem that energy efficiency investments could lead to rent increases. The $300 pw rent threshold is certainly low, but most community housing tenants fall under this threshold – and it is these lowest income households who have most difficulty with energy bills.
‘And I can guarantee that community housing providers would snap up the opportunity to improve energy security for their low income tenants, she said.
The Australia Day awards list has showcased the enormous contribution of many individuals in the community housing sector. CHIA congratulates the eleven awardees for their valuable contributions to community housing and thanks them for their service.
Peter Allen from Balwyn, VIC is currently on the board of Servants Housing, and was awarded an Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) for his service to the community through a range of organisations.
Graeme Brady, was a board member of Rockhampton and Environs Affordable Community Housing Ltd from 2008 to 2016. From Frenchville, QLD, Mr Brady was awarded an OAM for his service to the community of Rockhampton.
Raymond Brown from Dalby, QLD was the inaugural chair of Western Downs Housing Trust in 2012. His OAM was awarded to him for his service to local government, and to the community.
Ross Cooke from Malvern East, VIC received an OAM for his contribution to community health. He was a board member for Wintringham (and Wintringham Housing) from 1998 to 2015, and was the president of Wintringham in 2006.
Jim Couper from Mt Rankin, NSW is one of Bathurst’s recipients of the OAM. Mr Couper served as the chair of Housing Plus Ltd from 2009 to 2018, and was previously the president and chair of the Central Tablelands Housing Association in Orange from 2009 to 2011. He says he is “thrilled and humbled to be receiving an OAM.”
Elizabeth Hopwood from Orange, NSW is a former board member for Housing Plus Ltd and is currently a chairperson and volunteer coordinator for Food Care Orange. She received an OAM for her service to the community through social welfare organisations.
John Kenny from Forestville, SA has served as the chairman of the Frederic Ozanam Housing Association since 2012. His OAM was awarded for his service to the community.
Diane Kerr from Moorabbin, VICis the former director of the Narragol Housing Co-Operative. She received the award for her service to the Indigenous community of Victoria.
Terrence Luthy from Birkdale, QLD was a board member of Wynumm Manly Housing Co-Operative from 2005 to 2007. He was awarded an OAM for his service to the community.
William Risk from South Port, NT is the director of the Indigenous Housing Association. The OAM was awarded to him for his service to the Indigenous Community in the Northern Territory.
John Stone, the chair of North Coast Community Housing from 2005 to 2017, was awarded an OAM for his service to the community of Grafton, NSW.
We congratulate all the awardees for their tremendous service in helping the community. CHIA encourages people to think about who to nominate for their respective organisations. Nominations can be made here. A full honours list of awardees can be downloaded here.
Commonwealth expenditure on CRA ($4,438.8m) and NHHA (2003.8m) totalled $6,442.6m. Commonwealth expenditure under the NHHA in 2017-18 increased by $280.9 (16.3%) almost of all of which is explained by an additional $225.4m on Remote Indigenous housing.
State and territory outlays totalled $5,595.7m.[1] State expenditure on social housing per capita varied from $82.94 in Victoria to $638.97 in the NT. Victoria’s per capita spend is now less than half the national average of $166.93 per head of population.
State and territory governments reported transferring (management of) $1,375.4m of public housing stock to the community housing sector in 2017-18. Most of this was in SA where the transferred stock was valued at $1,079.1m.
All social housing
Over the past decade, the number of social housing dwellings has increased by 29,930 or 7.4% – well below population growth of 11% over the same period.
Public housing and state owned and managed Indigenous housing dwelling stock has fallen by 20,233 over the decade, to 330,917 in 2018. At the same time as public housing has retracted, the community housing portfolio, including Indigenous community housing, has expanded by 44,348 dwellings to 103,849. Community housing now represents 23.9% of all social housing dwellings nationally.
Community housing
The latest Report on Government Services 2019 confirms another year of steady growth for the community housing sector.
Mainstream community housing
At 30 June 2018, mainstream community housing organisations owned or managed 87,819 dwellings, up 4,917 (5.6%) on the previous year. Mainstream community housing dwelling portfolios rose in all jurisdictions except Queensland (down 396 dwellings, or -3.4%), Tasmania (down 135, or -2.2%) and NT (down 11 or 14.9%). Most of the increase was in SA (4,077) reflecting a substantial public housing stock transfer in that state, topped up by growth in NSW (up 947 dwellings, or 2.8%) and WA (215, or 2.7%). Growth in the Victorian community housing sector was disappointing, at just 125 dwellings (0.2%) over the previous year
Further sector consolidation saw the number of mainstream community housing providers fall by 66 (10.7%) from the previous year to 552. Provider numbers fell in all jurisdictions except WA, ACT and Tasmania. Most of the reduction occurred in Queensland (down 50 providers to 143) where a number of organisations were identified as no longer providing social housing, and several other (small) providers merged in 2017-18. [2]
Indigenous community housing
Dwellings held by Indigenous community housing organisations rose by 3.7% (569 dwellings) to 16,030 in June 2018. Increases in NSW (366), NT (322) Qld (78) and SA (43) were offset by loss of dwellings in Victoria (219) and WA (21).
Waiting list pressures
Waiting list pressure on community housing is growing, up from 38,776 on the waiting list in 2017 to 43,844 in June 2018. Even discounting the increase in the waiting list in SA following transfer of public housing stock, the national wait list for community housing grew by 7.8% (3,007 extra).
The number of new applicants on the wait list for community housing who were in greatest need sky-rocketed by 46% between 2017 (17,315) to 2018 (25,265).
The wait list for public housing fell from 142,490 in 2017 to 140, 578 in 2018. New applicants in greatest need on the public housing waitlist grew by 20% (up 7,798), driven mainly by a 6,933 (58%) increase in public housing applicants in greatest need in Victoria.
Rental stress among private renters
The number of CRA receipts fell by 32,245 between 2017 and 2018 to 1.311m people. Falls were reported in all jurisdictions except WA and SA (which had marginal increase of 0.2%).
CRA outlays fell by $100m to $4,438.8m. Even after CRA, 40.3% of recipients paid more than 30% of their income in rent and 12.5% paid more than half their income in rent in June 2018. Almost one in four CRA recipients under the age of 25 paid more than half their income in rent.
Comparative performance across sub-sectors
Public housing
Mainstream CHO
Indigenous CHO*
State-owned & managed Indigenous housing
Occupancy rates
[Table 18A. ]
97%
95.1%
93%
95.3%
Turnaraound times for vacant stock
25.2 – 88.2 days
(varies across jurisdictions, NT highest)
27.9 – 38.1 days
Waiting lists
[Tables 18A.5 to 7]
140,587
43,844
10,793
Greatest need as % of all new allocations
76.3%
81.8%
63.1%
New tenancies allocated to households with special needs
60.7%
55%
43.2%
Low income as a % of all households
98.5
94.2%
97.6%
% of households that are low income
[Table 18A.21]
98.5%
94.2%
97.6%
% of low income households paying <20% of income in rent
[Table 18A.22 to 24]
11.1%
(57.4% in NT and 25.1% in ACT pay <20% of income in rent)
19.8%
(34.2% in Tas and 31.9% in ACT pay less than 20% of income in rent)
30.4%
% of low income households paying >25% and <30% % of income on rent
[Table 18A.22 to 24]
2.1%
13.9%
0.6%
% of low income households paying > 30% of income on rent
[Table 18A.22 to 24]
0.5%
7.6%
0.2%
Overcrowded
[Tables 18A.25 to 28]
3.8%
4.3%
3.5% – 32%*
24.2%
Under utilisation
[Table 18A.32]
16.9%
10.3%
26.4%
Dwelling condition: 4 working facilities and not> 2 structural issues
[Tables 18A.3 to-38]
80.3%
87%
71.4%**
73.2%
Customer satisfaction – satisfied or very satisfied
[Tables 18A.40 to42]
74.1%
79.9%
66.2%
Cost per dwelling (excl capital)
[Tables 18A.43 to 45]
$9,448 pa
$10,905 pa*
$10,373*
$13,055 pa
Cost per dwelling (inc capital)
[Tables 18A.43 to 45]
$38,667 pa
$46,235 pa
*data is 2016-17 ** data is 2014-15 *** transfer of 4,000 properties to the CH sector in SA skews data
[1] Report on Government Services 2018, Table 18A.1
[2] Data on ICHO numbers is not included in the 2019 ROGS.
CHIA is pleased to announce that Wendy Hayhurst will take up the position of Chief Executive Officer of the community housing industry’s national peak body at the end of February 2019.
CHIA Chair Michael Lennon said CHIA is thrilled to have Wendy on board. “Wendy has a deep knowledge of community housing in Australia and overseas and will be a great asset to CHIA as we move into the next exciting phase of expansion of the industry.”
“We have been very impressed with the impact Wendy has had over the past three years in her role as CEO of CHIA NSW (formerly the New South Wales Federation of Housing Associations). We are looking forward to using her experience to expand our suite of member services and industry support for smaller and larger housing providers across the country. She is an excellent choice to take CHIA and the community housing industry forward on the next phase of our journey.”
John McKenna, Chair of CHIA NSW agreed with Lennon’s assessment, saying that he and the NSW Board are very sorry to lose Wendy, but recognise the impact she can make on the national stage.
“Wendy brought new skills and resources to our team at CHIA NSW,” McKenna said. “She has been very successful in raising the profile of community housing in this state and forged valuable links across government and industry. She will be hard to replace, but I know her future work with CHIA national will continue to benefit community housing providers in New South Wales.”
Immediately before taking up the role as the CEO of CHIA NSW, Ms Hayhurst was the Manager (Regulation) for the Registrar of Community Housing in NSW. Her extensive housing experience ranges from front-line housing management services, to Head of Housing at East Lothian Council in the UK and Regulation Manager at the Scottish Housing Regulator. She has also held senior roles in UK housing consultancy services working on policy and capacity building for a range of clients.
With Ms Hayhurst’s appointment, CHIA’s national office will relocate from Melbourne to Canberra.
A section of the recently-closed Coca-Cola Amatil manufacturing site in Thebarton will be transformed into social and affordable housing for people on low-incomes, InDaily can reveal.
The ageing Thebarton line produced its final bottle of Coke last week, ending 66 years of local production.
The 2.5ha Port Road site had been valued at almost $17 million in February last year when it was rezoned to allow for residential development of up to eight stories.
Anglicare SA CEO Peter Sandeman told InDaily this morning that his organisation had this week purchased a 9,500m2 portion of the site for an undisclosed sum to build its third housing and services hub in metropolitan Adelaide.
The purchased site, approximately two-blocks in size immediately south of the bottling plant, will be developed into multi-storey affordable and social housing, an Anglicare services centre and a space for “back-room administration”. It will complement Anglicare’s two existing services hubs, located in Elizabeth and Noarlunga.
Coca-Cola Amatil had formerly used the site as a storage space and car park.
Sandeman said it was “enormously rare” to secure a plot of land so close to the city and he was “quite confident” that construction would begin in six months, with the build expected to be completed by about 2020-21.
“I suspect Anglicare will be the first to develop on the site so we will have to use due-care in making sure the design is appropriate and sets, I hope, a high standard of what will be developed along that stretch of Port Road in the future,” he said.
CHIA chairman Michael Lennon congratulated Nathan Dal Bon on his official appointment as the new CEO for the National Housing Finance and Investment Cooperation (NHFIC).
Dal Bon has been the Principal Adviser for the Australian Treasury and Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet. He has also worked as the Head of the Economic Advisory Group at the Australian Agency for International Development (AusAID).
Lennon said that the community housing industry had been very impressed with the open and consultative approach Dal Bon had taken to the design and roll out of the NHFIC. We are very pleased to have the opportunity to continue working with Dal Bon and the NHFIC board over the coming years. This is a very exciting time for the community housing sector.
In her introductory meeting with the new Federal Minister for Disability and Housing, Sarah Henderson MP, CHIA’s Executive Director outlined the sector’s ambition to become the housing provider of choice for renters on low and moderate incomes by the end of the next decade.
Community housing now represents 3.3 per cent of all rental housing, Peta Winzar explained. The sector aims to triple in size to around 300,000 social and affordable rentals by 2028. The primary objective is to offer more choice to tenants. And, at 10 per cent of the rental market, the community housing sector would also be well-positioned to drive improvements across the broader rental market.
