Community Housing Symposium 2023

This phenomenal day hosted on Tuesday, 19 September, brought together stakeholders from the community housing, government, and private sectors, to showcase the community housing industry in Western Australia. The event was supported by Lotterywest.

Opened with a welcome by Shelter WA CEO Kath Snell, the day’s sold out events were officially commenced with an address from the Hon. John Carey MLA, Minister for Planning; Lands; Housing; Homelessness the room was filled with key individuals and organisations in the community housing, private sector, government representatives and homelessness sectors locally and from across Australia.

It was amazing to see a room overflowing with delegates keen to learn, to connect and to embrace the opportunity to discuss and dive deep into the challenges and opportunities the sector is experiencing.

Community Housing Showcase

The morning program began with the Innovation in Community Housing Showcase, sponsored by DevelopmentWA highlighting existing achievements of the sector through presentations that showcased innovation in key areas:

Delegates heard from

• Luke Garswood, CEO at Connect Victoria Park, who introduced their impactful community hub, and how it is making a positive difference in the lives of elderly members of the community. Connect Victoria Park were winners of Innovation in Building Communities category
• Chris Smith, CEO represented Foundation Housing, winner of the Innovation in Design, Inclusion and Accessibility category. He shared the impact and value of the Specialist Disability Accommodation in Bassendean, including new homes for six Activ clients and their carers
• Natalie Sangalli and Alex Kepes represented Housing Choices WA as winners of the Innovation in Tenant Engagement. They shared their initiatives for growing tenant engagement. Through a range of approaches, they have used to generate engagement via a range of interactions with their tenants. Based on the feedback received they are able to make informed decisions that have taken the information received from tenants into consideration
• The final Innovation Showcase was delivered by Rebecca Holcroft, Team Leader, Outreach Services at Zonta House Refuge Association, the winning organisation for the Innovation in New Business Models and Collaboration category. Rebecca’s presentation shared the impact Zonta House is having in relation to creating safer pathways for women and their children.

Commonwealth Funding Ready

After lunch and plenty of in room networking the afternoon began with the Commonwealth Funding Ready session, co-hosted by UDIA, Master Builders, and CHIA and sponsored by Paxon Group and Super Housing Partnerships. It bought together industry, government, the community housing sector, and other key stakeholders to identify areas of reform in systemic policy and to brainstorm solutions to best leverage upcoming Commonwealth funding for WA.

The Hon. Patrick Gorman MP addressed delegates to open the afternoon, sharing some of the Federal Government’s initiatives in relation to community housing and homelessness.

This was followed by a presentation by Ryan van den Nouwelant, Senior Lecturer, UNSW who joined us virtually to present insights about the realities of housing and homelessness and the findings from his research. We heard how the research provides clear evidence for the need to change and investment in social and affordable housing and reasons to ensure everyone has the opportunity to access safe, secure and affordable housed regardless of whether they live in the metro area or regional WA.

Next up it was the Bringing Together the Three Levels of Government focus. The session represented primarily focused on National Housing Accord, Social Housing Accelerator, Housing Australia Future Fund, policy and legislative reforms, however we also had the opportunities currently provided by the state government and shared how the three levels of Government are working together to deliver meaningful outcomes in Western Australia.

We individually heard from:

• Nathan Dal Bon, CEO, National Housing Finance and Investment Corporation (NHFIC), representing Commonwealth Government
• Garrick Allen, Executive Director of Strategy Planning and Policy, Housing and Assets, Department of Communities, representing the Western Australian government perspective
• Leanne Mitchell, Manager Community Strengthening and Social Planning, Brimbank City Council, representing the local government perspective.

All three speakers then joined MC Amity James for a panel discussion on the role of government in addressing the housing and homelessness issues. enthusiastically answering questions from the audience. One of the biggest messages from this entire session came from Garrick Allen who affirmed more than once that at a state level “Department of Communities are open for business” and welcoming of submissions from developers and community housing providers and invited builders to join the state builders panel.

“Department of Communities are open for business”

The afternoon keynote presentations continued with

• More bang for your buck – Leveraging innovative finance and investment solutions, Carolyn Viney, Chief Executive Officer, Super Housing Partnerships
• What are the challenges? – Creating opportunity to optimise supply, the planning system, and government partnerships, David Cresp and Ray Haeren, Directors Urbis
• Being brave – Creating a culture of ‘Yes’ in the WA, supporting innovative ideas to create tailored housing supply for WA’s diverse and growing population, Tanya Steinbeck, Chief Executive Officer, Urban Development Institute of Australia WA
• It’s a no brainer – Why Community Housing Organisations are the obvious partners to lead the delivery of new supply to achieve sustainable impact, Wendy Hayhurst, CEO CHIA National.

Then the conversation wrapped up for the day with a final focus on Next steps – where to from here? The discussion was a synthesis from the panel around what WA needs to do to commit to be Commonwealth Funding Ready and featured:

• Chris Smith, CEO, Foundation Housing
• John Lysaught, CEO, Advance Housing
• Michael Palassis, Executive Director, Paxon Group
• Tanya Steinbeck, CEO, Urban Development Institute of Australia WA
• Wendy Hayhurst, CEO, CHIA National.

The Shelter WA team would like to extend a huge thank you to every single individual and organisation who had some part in the day. Without your contribution the day wouldn’t have been the success it was. We have been overwhelmed with the feedback received from across the sector, reflecting the experience you all shared.

In the coming weeks we will share more about the Community Housing Symposium, including our post symposium report from Curtin University and other events hosted on Tuesday, 19 September and how you can join us next year.

Also, stay tuned for another message from us next week when we share with you highlights of our other two events on the same day, the Breakfast Launch of the Certificate IV in Housing for Western Australia, and the Shelter WA Homelessness & Community Housing Awards.