CHIA has released its 2020-2021 Annual Report, which can be viewed here.

CHIA has made its response into this enquiry. The full submission can be viewed under ‘Our Advocacy’

With thanks to sector colleagues for their support and endorsement (noting some have made their own submission)

CHIA Victoria, CHIA QLD, CHIA ACT, NATSIHA, Shelter WA, ShelterTAS, Q Shelter, ACTShelter, Mission Australia.

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

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 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.

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

Released yesterday, Stamp Duty Reform: Benefits and Challenges draws on the most recent data to assess the benefits and reform considerations when phasing out stamp duty in favour of a broad-based land tax.

Families across all states and territories, except the ACT, are paying substantially more stamp duty when they move house than they were 20 years ago which is hindering mobility and the efficient use of the housing stock, according to the research paper.

The paper also explores how replacing stamp duty with a broad-based land tax in all states and territories would help improve economic efficiency, and that a shorter phase in period could help limit the impact of house price growth on the cost of the transition. The aim of transitioning from stamp duty to land tax is not to increase revenue per se, and the paper demonstrates that the transition can be achieved in a revenue neutral way.

Full media release here

Report here

Yesterday the Constellation Project launched a report produced for the Housing and Productivity Research Consortium: ‘Housing: Taming the Elephant in the Economy’.

This research is a City Futures Research Centre report investigating the ways that Australia’s housing system impacts on financial stability, inequality and productivity. The key finding is that damaging impacts of over-expensive housing are more pervasive than conventionally recognised, and that the Commonwealth Government and the Reserve Bank of Australia should therefore pay greater attention to this issue.

The reports can be found via the links below:

Housing: Taming the elephant in the economy [full report]

Housing: Taming the elephant in the economy [4-page summary]

Housing: Taming the elephant in the economy [videoclip summary by Prof Duncan Maclennan – 11 mins]

Media coverage of the report so far includes  the SMH/Age and a 10 minute interview with Prof Maclennan on ABC RN Breakfast.

The media release in support of the report can be found here.

A recording of the launch event can be viewed here (1hr)