Community Housing (Victoria) Ltd – 20 years of operation for its parent company Community Housing Ltd (CHL), and 10 years of the CHL Group delivering affordable housing in Gippsland One of the keys to CHL and CHVL’s success is their belief in building strong partnerships and undertaking new initiatives. Besides working closely with all levels of the Community Housing Limited (CHL) celebrated its 20th year of providing social housing in Victoria, initially under its own identity, and from 2005 primarily under its subsidiary Community Housing (Victoria) Limited (CHVL) registered as a housing association in that year. It was a double celebration as the CHL group also celebrated its 10th year of delivering housing and homelessness support services to the local community in Gippsland. CHL currently delivers affordable housing in a number of other states, as well as internationally in Timor Leste, Chile and India. CHVL manages more than 2 100 homes in Victoria, with just over 50 per cent owned by the company. Four hundred and seventy-four of these homes are in Gippsland, in the local government areas of East Gippsland, South Gippsland, Bass Coast, Latrobe Valley, and Wellington. From its offices in Morwell and Bairnsdale, it operates both long and transitional housing, allowing easy access to tenants and people needing housing assistance in this part of Victoria. One hundred and sixty-nine of the Gippsland homes were designed and constructed through a mix of $50 million in capital funding from government and CHVL, making it the largest injection of investment by a community housing provider in the region. Besides the growth of new housing, these projects provided a boost to the local economy by creating employment, construction and subcontracting jobs. government, they have partnered with more than 22 like-minded organisations in the region that provide a range of support services to the tenants including aged, disabled, youth, and Aboriginal people. ‘These partnerships are essential to the ongoing sustainability of people’s capacity to occupy their housing sustainably and CHL will continue to build long-term local partnerships,’ – Steve Bevington, Managing Director.
Rural Housing Network Limited – 15 years of service in north eastern Victoria On 17 November 1998, the Ovens and Murray Regional Housing Council became Rural Housing Network Limited (RHNL), changing its legal structure to a company limited by guarantee and reflecting its growth in providing services in Shepparton and Seymour. During the intervening 15 years, RHNL continued to expand and diversify its services, and is the largest provider of community housing and homelessness services in north eastern Victoria. Catherine Upcher was CEO of RHNL from 2001 and was instrumental in its expansion. She encouraged the Board to register RHNL as a Housing Association (achieved in 2007), and made sure that RHNL took full advantage of opportunities available through the Commonwealth Government’s Nation Building program. When Catherine retired in 2013, she left an organisation renowned throughout Victoria for ‘punching above its weight’. RHNL continues to offer a raft of innovative programs, including Sustaining Tenancies At Risk (STAR Housing) which won the Australian Government’s National Homelessness Services Achievement Award for Excellence in the Prevention of, or Early Intervention in Homelessness, in 2012. It also manages Mooroopna Apartments – one of the only supportive housing models in regional Victoria to also incorporate Housing First tenancies (people who have been homeless for more than 12 months). Catherine Upcher As RHNL celebrates its 15th birthday, it continues to work in partnership with government and the community sector to develop housing options for marginalised people in the region. ‘Affordable and appropriate housing is a fundamental right and I am proud to lead an organisation that has a long history of innovation and putting people at the centre of our work.’ – new CEO Celia Adams.
Comparative financial data figures shown in this report may vary slightly from those reported last year by the Housing Registrar due to a new agency being registered during the year and one deregistration, as well as changes to accounting policies and prior year adjustments which have subsequently occurred.
innovation in the sector Place management Place managing has become increasingly important for agencies as they have become more involved in redevelopment of local communities and the construction of multi- unit properties with both private and social housing owners. Place management can vary from a social focus, through to a combined focus on social and economic outcomes. Inherent is a local presence by the agency within the local community . Urban Communities Ltd One example of a major place management initiative in Victoria in recent years was the Kensington redevelopment. This project transformed an ageing 1960s estate into a mixed community of public, social and private housing. A new organisation now known as Urban Communities Limited (UCL) was formed to place manage this mixed community. UCL was registered as a housing provider in May 2009. Today UCL provides place management in four different communities including Kensington, Fitzroy, Coburg, and the UNO apartments in Adelaide. At the Kensington project, UCL has focused on three platforms of community building > creating local jobs (cleaning services, maintenance services and café); > promoting health and well-being (community safety, pathways to health, family connections, community gardens, social and cultural activities, lifelong learning opportunities); and > strengthening community ties (community groups, schools, local service organisations). Residents are employed as part of the UCL team in cleaning, gardening, maintenance, customer service, administration and community development. Community events are developed with residents to connect neighbours. As an example, Fitzroy residents are keenly working with UCL on twilight family movie nights. UCL combines tenancy, asset and owners’ corporation management with a community building strategy. This foundation enables it to collaborate and innovate within the agency, with residents and a host of partner organisations, and to provide a responsive, locally targeted service that understands local needs and takes up opportunities. This partnership approach connects community and instils community ownership. We have tried a few things this year and involvement is growing. The movie nights can bring together children and adults and without the pressure of language barriers. Our focus is for everyone on each floor to get to know each other. – Tenant. I have a huge amount of pride in where we live and what our community represents. We have residents from all walks of life. – Tenant/UCL employee.
Gipps Street Abbotsford – Common Equity Housing Limited During the year, Common Equity Housing Limited (CEHL) completed and opened an exciting new mixed social and private housing development in Gipps Street Abbotsford. Opened by the Hon Wendy Lovell Victorian Minister for Housing on 6 May 2013, this project delivered quality social housing within an inner city location close to transport, shopping, leisure, employment and educational opportunities and institutional infrastructure. It included a mixture of 25 social housing units (managed by housing and 34 private dwellings (six of which have been purchased to be operated as disability housing) to ensure financial viability and encourage community integration through a mixed tenure arrangement. of an existing boot factory, the development retained the heritage facade of the existing building. Funding was provided through CEHL, the Victorian Government, and NRAS incentives for the 25 social housing units. This development has subsequently received the award for Best Affordable Development at the 2013 Urban Development Institute of Australia (UDIA) Victorian Awards for Excellence in December.
Gender of occupants – long term housing composition – long term housing Male 47.1% Female 52.9% Single 55.5% Sole parent with children less than 16 years 12.7% Couple 6.1% Couple with children less than 16 years 4.8% Family with relatives 5.5% Family with unrelated members 0.1% Group of unrelated adults 0.5% Unknown 14.8% Age ranges of occupants – long term housing Main source of household income – long term housing 0-5 years 7.4% 6-17 years 15.4% 18-24 years 8.6% 25-59 years 47.7% 60-75 years 10.9% >75 years 3.6% Unknown 6.4%
what people say The following vignettes and quotes provide an introduction to the range of people supported by social housing in Victoria. They have been sourced from registered housing agencies. Aunty Fay Carter – Aboriginal Housing Victoria (AHV) ‘I moved into my AHV home after my retirement six years ago. At that time I was living with my daughter when I found out about the opportunity to get accommodation through AHV. They rang me to come out and take a look at my unit – I was really happy about that. And for me, as an aged person, it’s given me back my independence. I think having that and your own space is very important – and I’ve still got lots of family around that I can draw on.’ Matthew’s Story – North East Housing Services (NEHS) ‘Getting back to work was better than rehab for me… ‘ For Matthew, getting back to work was a priority. After a stroke had laid him low, he’d spent a long time out of the workforce while he focused on his rehabilitation and gaining his strength back. ‘To be honest, I was bored at home and I found myself napping all the time. I knew I needed to keep myself active. I didn’t want to get too used to not working.’ But first he needed someone who was prepared to give him a chance, and to take account of his physical limitations at the time. Matthew was initially referred to NEHS’s social employment arm HIVE through the Northstar employment service, a group that has referred a number of other employees too. Matthew began working as a casual worker with HIVE in early May 2011, doing one or two days per week.
Special thanks to the following organisations that contributed to the report Aboriginal Housing Victoria Ltd Active Community Housing Ltd BAYSA Ltd (trading as Barwon Youth) Common Equity Housing Ltd Community Housing (Vic) Ltd Hanover Welfare Services The Haven Foundation Ltd Loddon Mallee Housing Services Ltd (trading as Haven; Home, Safe) North East Housing Services Ltd Port Phillip Housing Association Ltd Prahran/Malvern Community Housing Inc Rural Housing Network Ltd Servants Community Housing South Port Community Housing Group Inc St Kilda Community Housing Ltd Urban Communities Ltd Women’s Housing Ltd Yarra Community Housing Ltd Swinburne University of Technology Australasian Housing Institute Acknowledgement to partners Actual Size Community Housing Federation of Victoria (CHFV) Dialog Information Technology Eye Media And most importantly thank you to Aunty Fay, Matthew and Larry for allowing us to highlight their stories in our report this year.