Author Archives: chia_adm

Community housing to deliver 2700 homes in NSW by 2020

News NSW No Comments

By 2020, the community housing industry will deliver 2700 homes across NSW.

That statistic is just one of the facts discovered and highlighted by the NSW Federation of Housing Association’s (NSWFHA) comprehensive report, Delivering New Housing Supply: NSW Community Housing Industry Snapshot 2017. The report is the first time the NSW community housing industry has reported on the significant contribution that registered community housing providers make to social and affordable housing supply.

The NSWFHA Snapshot is based on information provided by its members and highlights the sector’s expertise.

The snapshot found that, by 2020, registered community housing providers will have worked in partnership with NSW state and local governments and the private sector to:

create almost $1 billion in new housing investment for local communities
develop 2700 new properties, in addition to the 38,000 homes they currently own or manage
independently deliver eight out of 10 homes, without partnerships with for profit developers
develop new housing in 34 local government areas.

Providing more affordable rental housing is one of the major challenges for NSW and Australia and the community housing industry is uniquely placed to provide solutions. Registered community housing providers have a long-term commitment to the communities they work in and are able to develop quality, well-designed housing that meets local needs.

You can download the NSWFHA’s report and the infographic.

Electoral funding reforms to impact CHOs

Federal News No Comments

New Federal Government legislation which aims to prevent foreign donors from having undue influence in Australian politics will impact on charities including community housing organisations that spend $100,000 a year on political advocacy, CHIA’s Executive Director Peta Winzar has warned.

The Electoral Funding and Disclosure Reform Bill is designed to tighten laws on allowable donations to ‘registered political campaigners’ and to political entities (parties, candidates, and organisations associated with a party). Organisations, including charities, will have to register as ‘political campaigners’ if they spend more than $100,000 a year on political purposes.

‘They will also need to supply details of directors and senior staff, including their membership of registered political parties. Civil penalties can apply to someone who incurs political expenditure without being appropriately registered,’ Peta says.

Organisations will have to keep records to show whether donations of more than $250 were from ‘allowable donors’ (generally an Australian citizen or permanent resident).

The legislation’s key clause defines political purpose to mean any of the following purposes:

(a) the public expression by any means of views on a political party, a candidate in an election or a member of the House of Representatives or the Senate;

(b) the public expression by any means of views on an issue that is, or is likely to be, before electors in an election (whether or not a writ has been issued for the election);

(c) the communicating of any electoral matter;

(d) the broadcast of political matter (other than political broadcasts covered by the Broadcasting Services Act 1992); and

(e) the carrying out of an opinion poll, or other research, relating to an election or the voting intentions of electors.

If organisations spend more than $100,000 a years on advocacy, it will have to register as a ‘political campaigner’. The immediate impact of this will be extra record-keeping and a requirement to supply an annual return, within 16 weeks of the end of the financial year, which includes:

Details of directors and senior staff including membership of political parties;
Details of grants, contracts, payments and other benefits from the commonwealth, State or territory government which require discretionary decision-making
An auditor’s report, and
A signed statement that any foreign donations have not been used for domestic political purposes.

‘The government has also indicated that it wishes to remove charitable status from organisations whose sole focus is advocacy. If a community housing organisations lost its charity status, it could potentially face a significant increase in staff and other operating costs,’ Peta says.

The charity sector, led by ACOSS, has lobbied strongly against the Bill under the ‘Hands Off Our Charities’ banner and has called for all registered charities to be exempted from the Bill’s reporting and disclosure requirements.

‘However there is a strong public policy argument in favour of seeking to limit the influence of foreign actors on Australia’s democratic system,’ Peta says.

‘This is a complex area and CHIA has adopted a balanced response in its submission to the Joint Standing Committee on Electoral matters, arguing that the Bill needs further consideration, and that there is a strong case for exempting charities that receive no or small foreign donations.’

The committee will report to Parliament by 6 March and you can download CHIA’s letter to the committee here.

CHIA calls for national housing strategy

Federal National Affordable Housing Agreement News No Comments

CHIA Chair Michael Lennon has told the Senate Economics References Committee inquiry into the National Housing and Homelessness Agreement (NHHA) that a national housing strategy is absolutely critical to fix Australia’s social housing shortfall

Michael told the Senate inquiry that halting and reversing the decline of social housing stock over the past 15 years would take a significant commitment from all levels of government and all political parties, over several decades and is unlikely to be achieved without national oversight

The inquiry is investigating the development of an agreement that will replace the existing National Affordable Housing Agreement between the states and the Commonwealth, which has failed to deliver an increase in social housing over the past decade.

The new agreement presents the perfect opportunity for the states and the Commonwealth to collaborate on a National Housing Strategy to guide investment over the longer term, Michael told the inquiry.

‘A National Housing Strategy is one of the missing pieces of the puzzle. If the NHHA legislation requires states and territories to have housing and homelessness strategies, it is entirely appropriate that the Commonwealth also has a National Strategy,’ Michael said.

‘In fact, it makes no sense to plan otherwise.’

Michael also detailed the core elements that needed to be included in state and territory housing strategies, such as specific targets and strategies to improve Indigenous housing outcomes, mechanisms to support the bond aggregator in providing long-term and low cost finance for social housing, and consistent national regulation and standards to be applied equally to community and public housing.

Michael also argued that the states and territories should transfer 50 per cent of public housing dwellings to the community housing sector.

‘Community housing is the only arm of social housing which is growing in size, capacity, and sophistication. Unlike public housing, community housing has a strong track record of leveraging assets to increase the number and quality of social housing dwellings.

‘Expanding the community housing sector also provides healthy competition and promotes choice for tenants.’

Download CHIA’s full submission to the inquiry.

Why you should join CHIA in 2018

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Do you want to have a say on affordable and community housing issues in 2018? Then this is the year to join CHIA.

SA public housing sell off

National Affordable Housing Agreement SA No Comments

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Concern about the sell off of public housing in South Australia has prompted Shelter SA to create a campaign to stop the sell off and improve the management of public housing….

‘South Australia once had one of the best public housing system in the world. Over the last 20years we’ve sold off more than 20,000 homes and we’re selling more each year with 660 more properties to be lost this year.

It makes no sense to sell off a publicly-owned asset when homelessness is increasing and other systems are pushed to the limit trying to deal with issues of poverty, unemployment, child protection, mental health and disadvantage. We understand that the Private Rental Assistance Program is critical for people living on low incomes to enter into the private rental market, providing bond guarantees and sometimes rents. The cost of funding this program, that is increasingly needed, should be borne across government budget lines and should not be funded by selling off public housing.

Investing in prison beds, health budget blow-outs and new hospitals won’t replace the need for an affordable, safe place to call home, the only foundation upon which people can regain their lives. We’ve put together a short video to alert South Australians to this situation and we’re asking you to like it and share it to call upon government to change the way they look at providing housing and improve the management of our precious public asset that is public housing.’

To support their campaign, view and like the video.

Video and content courtesy of Shelter SA
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Happy new capital gains discount

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Effective today, the Federal Government will lift the capital gains tax discount from 50 to 60 per cent to Australian residents who invest in qualifying affordable housing.

The government has clarified that tenant eligibility and rental payments will be determined by registered community housing providers, consistent with state and territory affordable housing policies.

Taxpayers must hold the property for use as affordable housing for an aggregate of three years in order to access the additional discount.

We look forward to seeing the legislation hit parliament in February and seeing the details from the states and territories re its implementation.

Media Release: New housing agreement outcomes under threat

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The ability of a new National Housing and Homelessness Agreement to deliver an increase in social housing will be reduced by the Federal Government’s decision to withdraw $6.5 million to monitor its effectiveness, the peak body for community housing has warned.

CEO of the Community Housing Industry Association (CHIA), Peta Winzar says the old National Affordable Housing Agreement (NAHA) did not deliver more social housing because of a lack of transparency and she fears the new agreement will meet the same fate.

Assistant Minister to the Treasurer, Michael Sukkar MP, told a meeting of community housing providers in September: ‘The Federal Government contributes $1.3 billion a year under the NAHA, we have done so for more than a decade…and on virtually every measure in that decade we have seen housing worsen. We have seen social and public housing stock decrease in many jurisdictions.’

Minister Sukkar cited the old agreement’s lack of impact as the motivation for creating a new agreement that would require the State’s to demonstrate the effectiveness of the funding in adding more social housing stock.

Despite this, the Federal Government’s Mid-year Economic and Fiscal Outlook statement has reneged on its commitment to set aside $6.5m over four years for the National Competition Council to monitor the effectiveness of the new agreement. Instead, the Department of Treasury will be asked to assist with the implementation and ongoing assessment of the new agreement, using existing resources.

‘Monitoring this agreement requires a level of expertise in housing,’ Ms Winzar says. ‘We need to learn lessons from the failings of the old agreement and ensure Federal funds are spent in a way that delivers the safe, affordable and appropriate social housing that is so desperately needed.’

‘Perhaps the government could rethink the $10m it is setting aside for a communications on its housing affordability measures – and direct some of those funds to ensuring the measures are working in a transparent and effective way.’

New Chair for CHPs for QLD

News Qld No Comments

CHPs for Qld/CHIA Qld has a new Chair with experienced and independent board member Anne-Maree Keane elected to the role. Anne-Maree is Partner Transaction Services at KPMG Australia and has over 20 years’ experience in accounting including a Fellowship of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Australia and a Fellowship of the Financial Services Institute of Australasia. Her expertise includes acquisition, due diligence, transaction and negotiation support, deal support, valuations and data analytics.

The former Chair, Jo Ahern, has been appointed as CEO position.

‘Having held the role of Chair over the last seven months and having worked closely with CHIA and other state/national players, I am really looking forward to this change in role and working to achieve our new strategic goals,’ Ms Ahern says.

‘Linda Cupitt, our EO will step down in the coming week or so, after providing a handover. As you would be aware, Linda has worked really well with the board over the last year and has contributed substantially to the board’s achievement of many of our goals including cementing our relationship we CHIA. We are sad to see Linda go but she has other professional and personal plans; hence her decision. The board and I wish Linda the very best and we look forward to maintaining this relationship.’

Budget Federal Innovation National Affordable Housing Agreement National Housing Finance and Investment Corporation News No Comments

CHIA has started work on what we want to see in the 2018 Federal Budget to improve housing affordability and we want your ideas. However, time is short, so you’ll need to get them to us fast!

In an unusually early start to the Budget process this year, the Treasurer has asked for Budget submissions to be lodged by mid-December. This means we will need to get your policy proposals by December 1, 2017, so we can finalise our submission by the deadline.

If you have ideas to improve housing affordability for renters or for home buyers, ideas to increase housing supply, or ideas to help people who are homeless or at risk of homelessness, then we want to hear them.

We are particularly interested in your proposals for reforming taxes – not just the well-rehearsed suggestions like changes to negative gearing and the Capital Gains Tax, but ideas for the other quirky bits of the tax system that make it difficult to do business, create inconsistent outcomes, or could create big opportunities for change. (For example: enabling developers to claim gift deductibility on their tax if they donate housing stock to charities could encourage developers to increase the amount of affordable housing in developments. Currently, donated stock can’t be regarded as a gift if it has been transferred as a condition of a planning permit that requires the provision of affordable housing.)

So send us your ideas – anything from a couple of sentences to a page is fine. Here are a few questions that will help us pull all the ideas together: What is the problem that needs to be fixed? What are good arguments in support of this proposal? Will it benefit any particular group (for example, older renters, people living in regional areas, Indigenous Australians, first home buyers)? Would it affect many people? How much is it likely to cost or save? Is the wider community likely to support or oppose it?

Email your ideas through to [email protected]

Housing issue ignored in Qld campaign

News Qld No Comments

Almost half of all low-income households in Queensland are suffering from housing stress due to a failure of governments to address the issue.

Despite a 13 per cent increase in federal funding over the past seven years, Queensland continues to lag behind the rest of the country in supplying social and affordable housing according to the state’s peak body for community housing providers (CHPs).

Chair of CHPs for Queensland, Josephine Ahern, said the issue was of vital importance to Queensland but one that’s probably not on the political radar of parties during the current campaign.

Read CHPs for Qld’s media release.

News NSW No Comments

National Tier one and largest not for profit housing provider, Community Housing Limited (CHL) is excited at the prospect of providing social housing to over 2,200 more people on the NSW Mid North Coast.

In an announcement made by the NSW Minister for Social Housing, Pru Goward, CHL was successful in its tender under the Social Housing Management Transfer Program for the Port Macquarie, Kempsey and Nambucca areas.

CHL will take management responsibility for around 1,300 additional properties, currently managed by Family and Community Services (FACS). Alongside this portfolio growth, CHL will also take responsibility for managing all applications for social housing and private rental assistance in the area, and will take a lead role in coordinating the social housing and homelessness sector across the Mid North Coast region.

“This is a wonderful opportunity for CHL to provide more services to more people, in places where the company has a long history of serving the community”, says Steve Bevington, Managing Director of Community Housing Ltd.

The NSW Government is transferring the management of around 14,000 social housing tenancies to community housing providers by 2019 bringing the total stock under management by community housing providers to 32 per cent.

Properties are scheduled to transfer in late 2018 with the NSW Government maintaining ownership of all of the properties and leasing them to CHL for a 20-year period.

“CHL is looking forward to working closely with tenants and communities, our key partners in the region and FACS over the coming months, to make the transfer a success and improving the overall social housing outcomes in the region,” adds Dr Lucy Burgmann, NSW State Manager for CHL.

This transfer will close to double the total number of properties under CHL’s management in NSW to 2,900 bringing the total national portfolio to around 7,500 properties.

Federal Innovation National Affordable Housing Agreement News No Comments

CHIA Chair Michael Lennon has been asked to take part in an innovative community engagement initiative that aims to connect everyday Australians with decision-makers and experts and develop solutions to key issues.

The not-for-profit Australian Futures Project is running the #WTF (What’s the Future?) project over four weeks this month, covering four key issues facing Australians: the energy crisis; the future of work; housing affordability; and, thriving kids.

On Monday, October 23, Mr Lennon will be one of eight housing affordability experts fielding questions from the public via various #WTF social media channels. The public will then be invited to contribute their solutions to the issues, which will be added to a report that brings together the facts and discussion and will be used to inform a roundtable debate by decision-makers.

Community organisations will then be funded to act on solutions.

CHIA members and stakeholders are encouraged to be part of the debate. Go to the #WTF website for details on how to take part.

1,201 NSW public housing transferred to community housing

News NSW No Comments

Leading Sydney community housing organisations Bridge Housing and Women’s Housing Company have been awarded the NSW Government tender to manage 1,201 public housing tenancies in the northern beaches for the next 20 years.

The winning partnership under the Social Housing Management Transfer Program will see the two experienced housing organisations take over management of the properties over the next 20 months and assume all housing customer service functions – allocations, tenancy and maintenance – previously delivered by Department of Family and Community Services in the area. Bridge will also be responsible for managing and coordinating services support from government and non-government organisations.

The Minister for Family and Community Services, the Hon. Pru Goward, today announced the winners of all nine packages, representing 14,000 public housing properties across New South Wales, including three portfolios in metropolitan Sydney. Bridge Housing CEO John Nicolades said: ‘I am delighted that Bridge Housing’s enormous investment in the past three years in becoming fit for significant growth has paid off. Over the past decade, we have successfully integrated public housing estates and multi-unit developments into our tenancy management, including in Balmain and South Coogee, but on a much smaller scale.

‘Our two organisations will separately manage housing in the northern beaches portfolio but with an alignment of best practice processes and principles, and with Bridge Housing as the contractual partner with government.

‘I am confident that our new northern beaches tenants will feel welcome and supported and that the government will see its housing assets very well maintained under the combined management of Bridge Housing and Women’s Housing Company.’

Women’s Housing Company CEO Debbie Georgopoulos said: “Women’s Housing Company brings our specialisation in housing and supporting single, vulnerable women to the partnership and will manage 12.5 per cent of the new portfolio, focussing on locations where single women are housed.’

‘Our partnership with Bridge Housing will enable us both to do what we have been doing best for more than 30 years and for Women’s Housing Company to house more people from one of the fastest growing demographics of homeless in Australia.’

Bridge Housing’s portfolio will grow from around 2,000 properties to some 3,100 properties while Women’s Housing Company will grow from almost 750 properties to over 900 properties. The Package 8 portfolio stretches across Mosman and the newly formed North Beaches local government areas and comprises houses, townhouses and units, 724 of them one-bedroom units or studios. The vast majority of households are single person and about 50 per cent of tenants are women. Tenants will remain in their current homes under the management transfer.

Bridge Housing and Women’s Housing Company will keep new and existing tenants informed as information about the transition process becomes available.

(With thanks to Bridge Housing for this article)

Housing hub home for disabled dwellings

Federal Innovation NDIS News No Comments

HOUSING HUB IS HOME FOR DISABILITY ACCOMMODATION

The Housing Hub is a new way for Community Housing Providers to list their disability housing vacancies, and people with disability to find suitable housing.

The housinghub.org.au website:

lists housing vacancies for people with a disability, including NDIS housing, existing Specialist Disability Accommodation (SDA) properties, new SDA builds, non-SDA supported accommodation, private rental and properties for sale
enables eligible people to submit an Expression of Interest in NDIS Specialist Disability Accommodation housing
has a library of useful information about housing options and planning your move.

The Housing Hub will continue to grow and develop nationally, with more vacancies, features and information continually being added. Help make the site a success for people with disability by spreading the word and sharing the link housinghub.org.au

Landscape shift for affordable housing

Bond aggregator Budget Federal Innovation National Housing Finance and Investment Corporation News No Comments

Landscape shift for affordable housing

Attendees of an affordable housing symposium, held at Griffith University, heard CHIA CEO Peta Winzar speak about the Federal Government’s September release of key reports, draft legislation and a consultation paper, which collectively signal a major shift in government thinking in relation to financing social and affordable housing.

Ms Winzar told the symposium that these four measures, together with some complementary budget measures announced by some state governments this year, have the potential to significantly alter the financing landscape for affordable housing.

The Affordable Housing Working Group,

The Affordable Housing Working Group, which was set up by state and federal treasurers to investigate innovative ways to finance affordable housing has released its report with three recommendations.

Its prescription for closing the funding gap between rents and operating costs contain no surprises – targets, planning mechanisms, tax reform, contributions from affordable housing providers, and so on. This is a list which could have been written a decade ago.

While it acknowledges the need to increase direct subsidies for affordable housing, the working group’s report stops short of suggesting how this might be done.

The report does contain some good examples of how to increase housing supply at no cost or low cost to government, for example, redevelopment of public housing properties, with the government getting a return either in cash or in replacement dwellings, or government taking a share of the profit from development of government land, in partnership with a developer or a CHO, or cross-subsidisation through a mix of market sale, affordable sale, affordable and social rent in a development

It also makes some valuable recommendations about strengthening the regulatory framework for community housing, and overhauling the national industry development framework for community housing.

Bond Aggregator

The aim of the bond aggregator (BA) is to raise institutional finance at scale from the wholesale bond market and then lend the money to Community Housing Providers (CHPs) for longer terms and at a cheaper rate than those offered by banks. The CHPs would apply for loans, pay a small fee towards the administrative costs of the BA and their borrowings would then be aggregated.

The government’s proposal is for the Bond Aggregator to sit under the new National Housing Finance and Investment Corporation (NHFIC), but there are still some design issues to be sorted out, for example:

Exactly how long the term of the bond would be – probably up to 10 years. This would give CHPs certainty about financing costs and remove the need for them to renegotiate with their bank every three to five years
How much cheaper the BA would be – this would depend on the credit-worthiness of the community housing sector and whether the government guarantees the bond
the proposal that the borrowing be secured against the title of properties held by the CHP, which raises interesting questions about the conditions under which state governments would allow properties under long-term management by CHPs to be used as security for a loan.

Treasury is seeking feedback on these questions and others as part of its broader consultation on the structure and operation of the NHFIC.

NHIF report

The Commonwealth Government is currently running a consultation on the National Housing Infrastructure Facility (NHIF) and the NHFIC. What’s innovative about this in a housing context is that it is a legislated vehicle at the Commonwealth level but it will be able to invest in City Deals at the state and territory level.

It will also be able to invest in projects at the government’s direction and the aim is for its investment returns to enable it to be self-sustaining over the medium term.

Note that it is intended to prioritise development projects with an affordable housing component.

The consultation paper on the NHFIC and the NHIF is on the Treasury website, consultation closes on 20 October 2017.

You can download Ms Winzar’s presentation here.

NDIS SA No Comments

‘Home’ will be the theme for the opening of Housing Choices South Australia’s (HCSA) new offices in downtown Adelaide today.

Located in Waymouth Street, the new offices will help accommodate the significant growth Housing Choices SA has undergone following its successful merger with Common Ground Adelaide and, most recently, the successful transfer of 840 public housing tenancies to HCSA under the SA Government’s Renewing our Streets and Suburbs program.

A free lunchtime barbecue will be held for new and existing tenants during the day. Staff are setting up a diorama of items donated by guests, which exemplify what ‘home’ means to them. HCSA State Manager Julie Duncan, Managing Director Michael Lennon and Chair Arthur Papakotsias will join friends, supporters, politicians and staff to officially open the space.