ACHO Prospectus Launch
In October 2021, four Aboriginal Community Housing Organisations (ACHOs) came together for the first time at the City of Perth Library meeting room.
The meet-and-greet with Department of Communities representatives, from the Community Housing Registration Office, the Housing and Assets Division and Aboriginal Outcomes team was the beginning of Shelter WA’s ACHO Capacity Building Project phase one, funded by Lotterywest under the COVID 19 grant scheme.
Pictured | Department of Communities Ben Rooke, Natasha Kickett, Grant Bobongie and Lyn Anderson, Michelle Mackenzie and Paula O’Leary from Shelter WA and Tina Pickett Noongar Mia Mia, Mary Marshall MRAC, Asha Bhat SAC and Merri Best GIHO.
The project focused on optimising the ACHOs’ – metro provider Noongar Mia Mia, and three regional providers namely Murchison Region Aboriginal Corporation (Geraldton), Goldfields Indigenous Housing Organisation (Goldfields) and Southern Aboriginal Corporation (Albany) – current assets, build on their professionalism and through a peer-to-peer learning approach, build collective capability supported by the technical expertise shared across the organisations.
Project Deliverables
Fast-forward two years and one of the major project deliverables has now been launched. The Lotterywest-funded project has been the catalyst for further funding and development of the sector. Shelter WA is currently delivering two projects to develop the ACHO sector: A 12-month Sector Strengthening Project, funded by the Department of Communities; and a three-year Capacity Building Project, funded by the Sisters of St John of God to continue on from the initial work funded by Lotterywest.
Through this next phase of capacity building, two ACHOs are preparing for registration with the Community Housing Registration Office in the next 12-months. The experience and learnings from these first two registrations will inform and assist the remaining two to achieve registration. Collectively, the ACHOs will more quickly achieve registration and higher levels of compliance and business efficiency through this project.
The ACHO Sector Strengthening Project, has been funded by the Department of Communities to map the ACHO sector, develop resources to assist ACHOs with registration and connect ACHOs with the intention to build the foundation for an ACHO peak body in WA.
The Aboriginal Community Housing Organisation Partnership Prospectus was developed to outline opportunities for partnerships with private-sector businesses, industry, philanthropists, community services and government agencies to partner with ACHOs. The Prospectus details the transformative benefits these partnerships can have on the lives of Aboriginal people, families and communities. The ACHOs are governed by the communities that they serve – and this self-determined approach is the basis for the effectiveness of their services and their importance to their communities.
A strong, diverse ACHO sector is integral to closing the gap for Aboriginal people, putting WA’s commitments to self-determination and self-management into practice, and propelling forward many key strategic government policy agendas. In turn this empowers Aboriginal people to have choice and control over their lives, and strides toward meaningful reconciliation.
[L-R] Merri Best, Goldfields Indigenous Housing Organisation; Asha Bhat OAM, Southern Aboriginal Corporation; Hon. John Carey MLA; Tina Ugle, Noongar Mia Mia.
The Launch
On Thursday, 9 March 2023 the Hon. John Carey MLA, Minister for Housing; Lands; Homelessness; Local Government officially launched the Prospectus.
“The best solutions are where we empower Aboriginal leaders.”
Minister Carey highlighted how providing culturally appropriate housing is critical to Closing the Gap. “The best solutions are where we empower Aboriginal leaders to go forward and build Community Housing Organisations,” he said. “To provide culturally appropriate accommodation … that is why today is so important.
“We do have four leaders here who are breaking ground … who deserve to have their capacity to be built and to be grown. Under our government we announced an Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisation (ACCO) strategy which is a broader approach about how we empower and build capacity of ACCOs to run services. We have seen that so well recently with Boorloo Bidee Mia. It is an outstanding success and a clear demonstration on why ACCOs should be empowered in this space.”
Watch the speech here
Work is currently underway to develop an ACHO peak body is WA. In the meantime, ACHOs in WA continue to demonstrate their strength and resilience with continued growth and excellence in service provision for their communities.
In his video message presentation, Ivan Simon, the Chief Executive Officer of the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Housing Association, said there have been major investment inroads in ACHOs.
“The WA Government is getting right behind the issues.”
“As we have seen in Western Australia, and this initiative, the WA Government is getting right behind the issues around community-controlled housing which is great to see,” he said.
Watch the speech here
Life-Changing Stories
Representing the WA ACHO Steering Group (made up of the four ACHOs highlighted in the Prospectus), Tina Ugle, Managing Director of Noongar Mia Mia shared actual life-changing stories from tenants captured in the document.
“She got her kids back from Child Protection.”
Tina shared the story of ‘Joanne’, a 35-year-old single mum, who said if she hadn’t been given a Murchison Region Aboriginal Corporation (MRAC) house she would have given up and probably be dead. “This outstanding young woman managed to kick her drug habit herself and with her MRAC house, she got her kids back from Child Protection and established a home for herself and her children,” Tina said.
Watch the speech here
Partner Now
Each of the ACHOs are seeking financial and in-kind partners from individuals and organisations wanting to support projects which will affect meaningful and significant change in the lives of Aboriginal people.
Opportunities are available to tailor partnerships to align with corporate social responsibility goals and co-investment opportunities, while developing strong and enduring relationships with ACHOs across Perth and regional WA.
If you can assist, we would love to hear from you and welcome the opportunity to meet with you to learn more about your business and your community investment priorities and develop a partnership to deliver excellent outcomes for Aboriginal Western Australians.
You can read the Aboriginal Community Housing Organisation Partnership Prospectus which outlines the opportunities to partner.
| Noongar Mia Mia
www.noongarmiamia.com.au
tina.ugle@noongarmiamia.com.au
| Southern Aboriginal Corporation
www.sacorp.com.au/
asha@sacorp.com.au
| Goldfields Indigenous Housing Organisation
www.giho.org.au/
merri.best@giho.org.au
| Murchison Regional Aboriginal Corporation
www.mrac.net.au/
mmarshall@mrac.net.au
To find out more about this project, Shelter WA’s other ACHO Sector Strengthening project and partnership opportunities with the ACHOs, please contact Clint Uink at clint.uink@shelterwa.org.au or 0456 381 928.
