Author Archives: chia_adm

CHC: Community Development Manager (ACT)

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CHC is the largest independent not-for-profit community housing provider in the ACT. CHC is a member of the Real Estate Institute (ACT) and has over twenty years’ experience in providing quality affordable housing, having self-funded a direct rental subsidy of over $31 million since inception, including $3.1 million in the last financial year. CHC has a development pipeline of over 200 properties and provides a home today to 1300 Canberrans in 466 homes owned and rented at below market rates. We deliver homes for the community in various locations across Canberra and are continuously seeking to grow our impact through increasing our volume of affordable rental properties under management.

CHC is seeking a Community Development Manager in a  full time role.

For further information please see the selection pack.

Havelock Housing (ACT): three exec roles

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Havelock Housing has been operating for over 70 years and now provides safe and secure housing to over 450 people from disadvantaged and vulnerable groups in the Canberra area.

They are the largest provider of Disability Housing in the ACT, operating essential 24 hour care packages to enable independent living and housing choices to people living with disability.  Their portfolio of properties includes the heritage listed Havelock House. which is now home to 100 people at any one time, and is of huge cultural importance to the area.

Demand for Havelock’s services is huge, with supply unable to keep up with demand.  The Havelock board has established a growth strategy to address this issue, with organic growth through development and program expansion identified for the coming years.  A leadership team has been designed to match the needs of a growing organisation, with three new roles identified:

Details of these roles and how to apply via Bloom HR can be accessed via the links above.

CHIA Media Release: Build back better with community housing organisations

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‘COVID-19: Rental housing and homelessness policy impacts’, the new report published by the UNSW-ACOSS Poverty and Inequality Partnership, demonstrates how much can be achieved with a ‘can do’ attitude. To protect from the pandemic during 2020, over 12,000 people sleeping rough were helped with emergency assistance. This has been followed by a significant step up in state-funded social housing construction, with 7,500 plus new homes planned over each of the next four years – well over double the 2-3,000 per annum that had become the disappointing norm over the past decade.

The Community Housing Industry Association (CHIA) congratulates Victoria, Queensland, Western Australia and Tasmania on their pandemic response and its members welcome the opportunity to play a prominent role in delivering the high quality, energy-efficient homes so badly needed by lower income Australians.

cont’d

Download the full media release here

NHFIC: Social Bond Report 2021

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The National Housing Finance and Investment Corporation (NHFIC) has released its Social Bond Report for 2020–21. NHFIC’s Social Bond Report provides insights into bond issuances, including borrower profiles and use of proceeds.

Highlights include:

  • Issuing 3 bonds – including NHFIC’s first sustainability bond and longest-tenor bond, and first floating rate note – raising a total of $805 million.
  • Supporting more than 4,900 dwellings, with around two-thirds (65 per cent) of the CHP loans funded by the three bonds underpinning new housing supply.
  • Provided 9 community housing providers with an estimated $161 million in fee and interest savings, through longer tenor and lower-interest loans.
  • Continued to attract private investment into social and affordable housing in Australia, by growing NHFIC’s investor base domestically and offshore, with 7 new offshore investors.
  • Meeting the housing needs of a range of cohorts including vulnerable women, indigenous households, and people with disabilities.

Full media release here

Social Bond Report here

CHIA: Sector rejects Mr Falinski’s uninformed and prejudiced comments about social and affordable housing

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A coalition of affordable housing advocacy peak bodies has rejected the comments made by Jason Falinski MP, chair of the Standing Committee on Tax and Revenue’s Inquiry into housing affordability and supply in Australia, labelling them as uninformed and prejudiced. CHIA, Homelessness Australia, and National Shelter, object in the strongest terms to Mr Falinski’s misrepresentation of the sector and disregard for the important contribution that affordable housing makes to the wellbeing of Australians in housing need.

Mr Falinski’s statements at UDIA’s National TV event on 9 September denigrating social and affordable housing come in the same week that the Women’s Safety Summit issued a statement recognising that ‘Affordable, accessible long-term housing…… is fundamental to the safety and recovery of victim-survivors and must be a priority.’

Full release here

Expert housing panel: Australian Institute of Superannuation Trustees conference

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At the AIST (Australian Institute of Superannuation Trustees) ASI 2021 conference last week one of many discussions that took place was on a newly developed investment model in affordable housing that aims to overcome some of the traditional barriers to pension fund investing in this asset class and deliver solid returns for members.

Carrie Hamilton, Consultant, Housing Action Network, Wendy Hayhurst, CEO @ CHIA and Associate Professor Christian (Andi) Nygaard, Deputy Director, Centre for Urban Transitions, Swinburne University of Technology as an expert panel provided their insights into this topic. The recording can be heard here.

St Patricks: Innovative project to provide housing for 18 women

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Funding has been secured for the construction of 18 prefabricated homes in North Fremantle for older women who are experiencing homelessness, a first in the provision of social housing in the metro area.

The homes will be built on vacant rail reserve land, leased on a peppercorn basis from the Public Transport Authority (PTA) through the Department of Communities.
WA has experienced pressure in the housing market since the advent of COVID-19, and there is significant demand for social housing options for people who are homeless or at risk of homelessness.

This project is a partnership between My Home Australasia Limited (‘’My Home’’) and St Patrick’s Community Support Centre Limited (St Pat’s), and has been enabled with support from Lotterywest and the Minderoo Foundation.

Full media release here

Statement on Housing for Women’s Safety: Social housing cannot be overlooked during women’s safety summit

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CHIA is pleased to be one of the 240+ signatories to the Statement on Housing for Women’s Safety, organised through Everybody’s Home. These organisations are concerned “about the continuing toll of violence against women, and lack of Government action to provide safe homes, so women and children can escape violence and rebuild their lives. Failing to include housing for women’s safety on the Agenda at the National Summit on Women’s Safety highlights the lack of focus on this critical issue. You simply can’t talk about women’s safety without talking about safe and affordable homes.”

For the full statement please click here 

Media Release: Social and affordable rental housing: time for all levels of government to invest in this transformational social infrastructure

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The Community Housing Industry Association (CHIA) applauds the 2021 Australian Infrastructure Plan’s break through call for all levels of government to invest in social and affordable rental housing. The Plan recognises that ‘well-maintained and designed social housing provides many community benefits, supporting individual and societal wellbeing and productivity, and reducing costs in health and justice services’ and recommends the design and implementation of programs to increase supply’.

“Infrastructure Australia is to be commended for the focus on social infrastructure in this plan. Too often Australian governments have viewed social and affordable rental housing investment solely as an impost and overlooked its positive impacts, not just for the individual who gets a home but for other service budgets.” said Wendy Hayhurst, CHIA’s CEO. “Only last week, for example the Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute (AHURI) published research showing that helping ex-prisoners through social housing typically cuts re-offending and saves the tax payer thousands of dollars.”

Full media release here

Sign the Statement on Housing for Women’s Safety

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CHIA is urging its members and the wider sector to join us in calling on the Government to ensure access to safe and affordable housing is a key part of its agenda to improve safety for women and children.

On 6 September the Federal Government will hold the National Summit on Women’s Safety, a key part of the process of developing the 5th National Action Plan to Reduce Violence against Women and their Children.

Although organisations in the domestic and family violence sector, First Nations organisations and communities, and the broader community sector have called on Government to make access to safe and affordable housing a key part of its agenda to improve safety for women, housing hasn’t been included on the agenda for the summit, or in the preceding roundtables.

To highlight the importance of this issue, Everybody’s Home is inviting your organisation is invited to sign this Statement on Housing for Women’s Safety. A representative of your organisation, who is authorised to speak on behalf of the organisation, can sign the form. EH will then present the Statement to the Government.

CHIA welcomes James King, CEO Unison, as its Vic Region Director

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CHIA is delighted to welcome James King, CEO Unison (pictured left) to its board as Region Director for Victoria. James brings a wealth of experience as CEO at Unison, and is also a non executive director on the CHIA Vic board. CHIA is looking forward to working with James in this capacity.

 

James has joined the CHIA National board following the retirement of Stephen Nash (pictured left) in July. Stephen was formerly Managing Director at Common Equity Housing Ltd in Victoria.  On behalf of its board and staff, CHIA would like to acknowledge the contribution that Stephen made to the work of CHIA and wishes him well for the future.

Submission to the National Plan to End Violence Against Women and their Children

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CHIA has made a submission to the National Plan to End Violence Against Women and their Children.

This submission is also supported by CHIA Victoria, CHIA NSW, CHIA ACT, CHIA QLD, ACTShelter, QShelter, ShelterWA and ShelterTAS.

Many of our members provide accommodation specifically targeted at women (and their children) who have experienced housing insecurity due to domestic violence, and are amongst the organisations awarded contracts under the Commonwealth government’s Safe Places Program. We understand that safe, secure and affordable housing needs to be available to assist women escaping violence.

Our members also understand the role that responsive tenancy management can play in responding to DFV. CHOs are often on the front line dealing with the fall out of domestic and family violence (DFV) and have an opportunity to make a significant difference through the implementation of well-designed and evidenced policies and procedures. They need to implement approaches to identifying and responding to DFV that assist victims/survivors to either remain safely in their own home or relocate to a safe environment. CHOs also need to engage with perpetrators in a safe and responsible way.

CHIA is making this written submission to express our concern that housing – its provision and management – is not receiving the attention it merits. The silence on housing in the consultation guide is disappointing. Similarly, its omission from the agenda of the Women’s Summit and the apparent absence of housing as an explicit focus of any of the Monash University workshops is a concern.

Download the full submission here

 

 

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