Community Housing Peaks Network

Shelter WA’s Head of Policy and Sector Development Paula O’Leary travelled to Adelaide to catch up with several members of the Community Housing Peaks Network.

Jurisdictional and national peaks supporting the community housing sector across Australia and New Zealand meet regularly to share updates, discuss work being done in each jurisdiction and where learnings could be shared and possibly expanded to other jurisdictions. It was also a chance to see new projects and advocacy which could be collectively worked on.

Across Australia

Mark Degotardi at Community Housing Industry Association (CHIA) NSW, Ivan Simon from the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Housing Authority (NATSIHA), Luke Westenberg of Community Housing Council of South Australia, Peta Winzar, CHIA QLD and Karen Walsh CHIA NT attended.

The meeting was chaired by Wendy Hayhurst, CEO at CHIA.

Community Housing Diversity

Wendy Hayhurst said the meeting celebrated the diversity of community housing.

“We ranged widely from best practice in housing ex-offenders, to institutional investment, via sector capacity building for four Aboriginal Community Housing Organisations (ACHOs) and calculating the dollar from providing social and affordable housing,” Ms Hayhurst said.

Projects

At the meeting the following Shelter WA projects were presented.

Community Housing Sector Growth Opportunities: Collaboration between Government and Industry to Drive Supply report. It highlights how collaboration with community housing sector, can leverage government investment to drive the supply of new social and affordable homes.

Building Tenancy Skills Project: Building tenancy skills with individuals who live with disability and enhancing the organisational capacity of service providers to support clients with disability.

ACHO Capacity Building Project: To support the growth of the Aboriginal Community Housing Sector in WA we secured funding to build on their collective strengths and capacity.

Infection Control Project: This program delivers infection control expertise to residential and non-residential homelessness services, community housing organisations and congregate living facilities.

Better Housing

“The opportunity to connect with peers in out jurisdictions is invaluable,” Ms O’Leary said.

“Helps us better support the sector here in WA.”

“The community housing sector in other jurisdictions has seen significantly more institutional and government investment and as a result has seen considerable growth. Hearing the barriers that have been overcome on this journey and the new and innovative to deliver better housing outcomes for tenants helps us better support the sector here in WA,” Paula said.