| Welcome to the March 2021 edition of Housing Matters. This month has seen us launch exciting initiatives in what will be a critical year for community housing. I am pleased to share that CHIA NSW has officially launched our social housing cadetship program in partnership with the NSW Government and the NSW Land & Housing Corporation. These cadetships will provide 100 social housing tenants with opportunities to take on a job that will provide them with nationally recognised skills and qualifications for a lifelong career in housing management. These cadetships will be funded by the NSW Government and we are grateful for this investment which will help create more skilled workers in the community housing sector, while also helping to break the cycle of disadvantage for participants. More information on the cadetships is available in this edition of Housing Matters. Our 2021 Community Housing conference is another initiative which will highlight the great things our sector has achieved. Registrations are now open for the conference which will be run from August 11th-12th at the Sydney Masonic Centre. The 2021 Community Housing conference will include a range of sessions and networking events for the sector to meet, share insights and map the future of community housing. More details on how to register for this event below. Despite these positive announcements, the challenge ahead for the housing sector remains significant. Recent AHURI figures show that Sydney now has 71% of lower-income households paying unaffordable rent, and that there is a national shortage of 173,000 affordable homes. (see below) With economic uncertainty still lingering around the final impact of changes to JobKeeper payments and the associated loss of employment, there is a clear need for further investment in affordable and social housing from Federal and State governments. There must be a commitment to a significant net growth in social and affordable housing if we are going to make an impact on the thousands of families in housing stress in the NSW community. As always, the NSW community housing sector stands ready to do our part to support all government initiatives that create more affordable homes and secure safe housing for more NSW families. We hope you enjoy this edition. Mark Degotardi CEO, CHIA NSW |
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| NSW Government and CHIA NSW partnership to create new jobs and skills in community housingTogether with the NSW Government, the Community Housing Industry Association (CHIA) NSW is providing new training opportunities connected to jobs in the Community Housing Industry through a Cadetship Program. Funding for the program has been provided through the NSW Land & Housing Corporation. This exciting program provides an opportunity for cadets to undertake paid employment and training in property management and asset development. With 25 cadetships offered each year from 2021 until 2024, all participants who successfully obtain a place will enter a 12- month paid employment contract with a Community Housing Provider and enrol to study the CHC42215 Certificate IV in Social Housing. This nationally accredited qualification will provide foundation skills and knowledge in: • understanding the community housing workplace • working with tenants and understanding their needs • assessing and managing property maintenance and asset development. Over the coming months CHIA NSW will work directly with community housing providers to source partners for the cadetships. You can find out more about the cadetships program by visiting the CHIA NSW website. |
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| CHIA NSW's Community Housing conference 2021 launches registrationsRegistrations for CHIA NSW’s Community Housing 2021 are now open. Running from August 11th-12th 2021, CHIA NSW’s Community Housing conference is an event solely dedicated to bringing together NSW community housing professionals with government, academic, and investor stakeholders. More information on the first-round speakers will be announced in the coming weeks. You can now register for our conference and get ready to discuss new insights and bold ideas! |
| CHIA NSW running Aboriginal Cultural Competency sessions for CHPsCHIA NSW is pleased to announce the next step for CHPs committed to developing their Aboriginal Cultural Competency based on the Aboriginal Outcomes Strategy (AOS) 2017 - 2021.Building on the sessions delivered throughout 2020, CHIA NSW will be running training sessions that take a practical approach to using the Aboriginal Cultural Competency Standards to support better outcomes for Aboriginal tenants living in community housing.These training sessions will unpack the final Standard in the cycle of training events based on the Aboriginal Cultural Competency Framework Standard 1 to 6. The sessions will demonstrate how this can help CHPs deliver on their AOS commitments, in particular how this will fit into the organisation’s strategic planning (including their Reconciliation Action Plan) to make sure that the other Aboriginal Cultural Competency actions are built into CHPs’ strategic and business plans.We are offering three half day sessions via MS Teams on this topic, on:• APRIL 16th• MAY 17th• JUN 16thPlease click here to book a place for any of the sessions or to see further information about the events. Please note that place numbers are limited so that we can have a good learning environment.If you have any questions about the sessions please contact CHIA NSW’s Aboriginal Specialist, Paul Teerman at [email protected] |
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| Affordable housing website WelcomeMat joins CommBank's Benefits finderCommBank’s Benefits finder aims to support the financial wellbeing of its customers by helping them find benefits, rebates and concessions they may be eligible to claim.WelcomeMat helps more people access affordable housing and is now one of the hundreds of benefits available on Benefits finder. General eligibility criteria is available through the CommBank app or NetBank and customers can then apply through WelcomeMat. More information on WelcomeMat can be found here and information on CommBank’s Benefits finder can be found here. |
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| AHURI report details impact of underinvestment in affordable housingResearchers from the University of Sydney, Swinburne University and RMIT recently launched a new AHURI report detailing the impacts of underinvestment in affordable housing.The national shortage of affordable, private rentals for lower income households now stands at 173,000 dwellings. The most severe shortages were in Sydney with 71 per cent of lower income households paying unaffordable rent.The full report is available at AHURI’s website. |
| An update from NHFIC CEO Nathan Dal BonOn 17 March, we were pleased to announce a funding agreement with HousingFirst that will allow the Victorian community housing provider to access more than $18 million in NHFIC loans and grants through our National Housing Infrastructure Facility (NHIF). HousingFirst will use these funds for services such as water, gas, power, communications services and a pedestrian crossing. This funding agreement is our first NHIF umbrella agreement with a community housing provider (an umbrella agreement funds multiple sites over time). You can read more about the NHIF on our website.Over the past weeks, NHFIC has participated in a number of events and webinars. I presented to CHIA Vic’s Board in mid-March to talk about NHFIC’s current priorities and operational improvements, and participated in the Property Council of Australia's Residential Outlook 2021 as a keynote speaker and as part of a panel Q&A. A copy of my presentation is available on our website. Additionally, our Head of Research, Hugh Hartigan, recently presented to members of the UDIA SA branch as part of their Knowledge Series.For those of you working through the CHP financial model, you may be interested to know we recently released a user guide to accompany the financial model. The user guide supports CHPs in completing the CHP financial model requirements and training sessions are expected to occur soon. Please email us at [email protected] if you’d like further information.As always, feel free to connect with us on social media (Twitter and LinkedIn) to stay up to date with the latest news from NHFIC. |