With 7,600 new homes currently under contract or construction the Big Housing Build is delivering for Victorians. Our AGM bulletin provided an update on the multiple streams of the BHB – if you missed it you can download it here. The last two years have been a difficult time but the community housing sector has risen to the joint challenges of protecting vulnerable tenants while rolling out the BHB. It is truly a great time to be working in housing!
It is also the right time for me to hand the reigns to this wonderful organisation to someone who has the capacity to take CHIA Vic to the next level, and I know you will all be thrilled when you hear who is to take on the CEO role. With its strong support from member organisations and the State Government I know CHIA Vic will continue to provide and grow services for members; and advocate for a pipeline of housing. I would like to thank all those I have worked with over the last 9 years in the community housing sector, particularly the staff of CHIA Vic who are exceptional and thoroughly committed to the cause.
I wish you and your loved ones a happy, relaxed and safe holiday period.
Lesley Dredge
CEO, CHIA Vic
Planning for the next state Budget
CHIA Vic’s budget submission for 2022 acknowledges the historic funding commitment made by the Andrew’s Government to grow the social housing system and focuses on what is required to improve the architecture system - in particular, the support required to maximise the benefits of the Big Housing Build. Read more here
VCOSS also recently released its budget submission and the 50 recommendations broadly fit into two categories:
1. Short-term measures to immediately help people — and the frontline services that support them — to recover from the worst of COVID, and
2. Long-term measures to address systemic challenges and entrenched disadvantage.
NHFIC supports the sector through capacity building
Is your organisation ready to undertake development projects?
A number of members have asked for advice on how they should position themselves to be successful in funding rounds and what gaps they may have that would prevent success. NHFIC provided CHIA Vic with a grant to develop a tool that can be used to assess organisational readiness. The Organisational Readiness Self-Assessment Tool (ORSAT), designed by consultant Rachel Hornsby aims to improve an organisation’s readiness to successfully apply for funding or finance opportunities. Building capacity in an organisation won’t happen through a single assessment, but ORSAT is designed to help identify the foundation required and a pathway to improvement.
ORSAT consists of five parts:
A series of questions to help you assess your organisation
A supporting document that helps describe the questions in more detail which you can use if you are not sure where your organisation sits on a particular issue
An Opportunities for Improvement assessment table
A list of policies and other documents that support good governance and management and are also useful when putting together a proposal
A list of policies and other documents that support good project governance and are useful when delivering a project
There will be courses early next year to complement the tool on: Project management, building organisational capacity and risk/financials. In the meantime you can download ORSAT here
Help with developing social & affordable housing on leased land
One of the ways local councils and other landowners, such as charities, support the delivery of affordable housing is through contributing land to an affordable housing project led by a community housing organisation (CHO). In many cases the third party landowner does not want to relinquish title to the land, and would prefer to provide a long-term lease to the CHO at a peppercorn rent.
To assist CHOs and landowners to draft a lease that works for both parties – one that enables the CHO to apply for funding and debt while protecting the interests of the landowner, the funder, and the CHO – CHIA Vic led a project to develop two template agreements:
Agreement for Lease (AFL) Template – agreement between the landowner and CHO whilst the housing is being developed. The AFL pre-commits the parties to enter into a lease once the development is complete, and is designed to be used together with the Head Lease template.
Head Lease Template – lease agreement between the landowner and CHO to manage the ongoing use of the housing after construction has been completed.
In October AHURI published a report outlining a best practice asset management framework for social housing in Australia: Towards an Australian social housing best practice asset management framework. The report outlines considerations that should ideally drive the development of a strategic asset management system, as well as identifying a number of challenges in adopting this type of strategy. There are a range of recommendations for areas where public housing and community housing businesses could improve their practices, but the research doesn’t offer a solution to the lack of funding available to undertake asset management in the way it recommends. This is a key weakness of the report as it makes the final framework difficult to implement wholesale.
CHIA Vic’s Jess Pomeroy participated in thewebinar launching the research, providing an industry perspective on the research, and CHIA Vic is working on ways to support members in adopting or adapting practices to embed strategic approaches to asset management. This will be particularly critical for smaller organisations wishing to get ready for longer term leases.
VCAT Update
CHIA Vic regularly attends meetings with VCAT and discusses issues on behalf of the sector. The most frequent issue raised has been delays between applications and hearing dates with delays for some hearings exceeding six months. VCAT is well aware of the impacts this is having and advises that they are working hard to remedy it and will provide details of their plans shortly. In the meantime, if a dispute has not been appropriately prioritised, for example in cases where a neighbour is in danger, a request can be made to the registrar to prioritise the hearing. Information on other matters recently raised by members is provided below:
In person hearings: VCAT has continued to hold themajority of residential tenancy hearings as teleconferences but will soon be moving to a mix of in-person, phone and Zoom hearings. They’ll also be consulting shortly on how best to set this mix. CHIA Vic will be consolidating feedback from the sector so feel free to email us any comments on this.
Interstate parties: A recent decision (Meringnage v Interstate Enterprises Pty Ltd 2020) held that VCAT does not have jurisdiction where the parties are residents of different states. This has meant that disputes could not be heard where a renter relocates out of Victoria and into another state. This has been resolved by creating a new civil federal jurisdiction in the Civil Division of the Magistrates’ Court of Victoria where applications can now be made in such cases. Information on applying to the Magistrates’ Court for these cases is available here.
Koori engagement: Information on VCAT’s support for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander applicants and respondents is available on their Koori support page and VCAT’s Koori support team is contactable on 0417 516 335.
Complaints: If you have a complaint about VCAT or a VCAT member, you can raise it with VCAT staff and, if the issue is not resolved, a complaint can be made using their complaint form which can be emailed to complaint@courts.vic.gov.au.
Written reasons: VCAT members must provide written reasons if a request is made before or at the time a decision is made but, understandably, they prefer not to as they take considerable time to write and this does not help VCAT in resolving the backlog of cases. If parties need a record of the verbal reasons but don’t require full written reasons, a request can be made for a brief description or “short form” reasons on the order. This allows parties to have a written record of why an order was made without causing VCAT unnecessary work or delays.
Any members with queries about VCAT disputes or in need of support resolving issues can contact Jason at CHIA Vic on jason.perdriau@chiavic.com.au.
CHIA Vic & AHV seeking Partnership Development officer to support the delivery of housing for Aboriginal Victorians
In November 2020, the Victorian Government announced a historic $5.3 billion investment in social housing over the next four years. Ten percent of the housing being delivered through the Big Housing Build is for Aboriginal Victorians. Under the principles of self-determination, many of these dwellings could be owned and managed by the Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisation (ACCO) Sector, or ACCOs could explore other models which best suited their organisation and their community. No matter what model is chosen, delivering new housing for Aboriginal Victorians will require a much greater level of partnership between the mainstream community housing sector and ACCOs.
To support networking and partnership development between these two sectors CHIA Vic and Aboriginal Housing Victoria are partnering to employ an Aboriginal Partnership Development officer. This exciting and challenging position offers applicants the opportunity to support the delivery of housing for the Victorian Aboriginal community in the Big Housing Build by providing support to the community housing and ACCO sectors to learn about one another, identify partners for the Big Housing Build, and explore options including registration.
CHIA Vic and AHV are accepting applications now and encourage any interested candidates to get in touch as soon as possible. Interviews will start immediately, and the role may be filled before the closing date of 14 January 2022.
We strongly encourage Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders people to apply.
For more information on the position check out the PD or get in touch with Jess Pomeroy at jess.pomeroy@chiavic.com.au
Social procurement support for CHIA Vic members
Over the last month we held two social procurement training sessions for CHIA Vic members. The November session focused on working with the construction sector, and the December session focused on gender equality. If you are a CHIA Vic member and would like a copy of the presentation or to view the recording, please email Stephanie Ng (Stephanie.Ng@chiavic.com.au).
We have also updated the social procurement resource list which is available here, and includes a bunch of additional resources to reflect the social procurement requirements of the Regional Round.
New release - Rental Affordability Index
The recently released Rental Affordability Index 2021 exposes the increasing unaffordability of rental properties across Australia for lower-income households and shows that many renters are worse off than before the COVID-19 pandemic.
Read the full report here and access the interactive map here
Big Housing Build Update
Mental Health housing co-design stakeholder engagement
Engagement is happening on all fronts with the co-design of the mental health housing for the Big Housing Build. Homes Victoria has set up a reference group and recently sent out an invitation (the Request for Registration of Interest or RROI) to registered CHOs to sign up to regular email updates and invitations to participate in co-design activities ahead of the Mental health Supported Housing Round of the BHB. Members are encouraged to register their interest as there will be further workshops with the sector occurring in the new year. More information on the supported housing for people living with mental illness, including the co-design work, can be found at https://www.vic.gov.au/supported-housing-people-living-mental-illness, and the website will be updated regularly as work progresses.
Youth Housing Capital Program
$50m has been announced for new housing projects for young people. The funding will deliver a range of housing options including youth foyers that integrate housing with education, employment and other support services, or youth housing accommodation and projects focused on young Victorians leaving out of home care. The press release is available here. The RFP has been released and there is an information session this Friday at 1pm.
Aboriginal Round
The RFP should be available in the middle of December.
Have you checked out the projects page of our new website?
The new projects page showcases examples of affordable housing projects, and also provides an opportunity to find and share project partnership opportunities.
There are several partnership opportunities currently on the page, as well as great examples of projects in progress or completed.
If you are a developer, local council or CHO looking for an organisation to partner with on a specific project, you can share the partnership opportunity on the CHIA Vic website by completing the project details form.
Leading Change: Understand your role in leading changes within your team and organisation, big and small
With organisations changing and evolving, as well as the added complexity of a global pandemic, change is inevitable. Poorly managed change can kill motivation, engagement and, ultimately, force your staff into making the decision to leave the organisation.
Well-managed change will build agile, engaged and resilient teams and individuals.
This workshop is suitable for anyone who leads a team, or is in a corporate support function such as HR, Finance, Communications or IT or anyone who is keen to lead change with the least amount of resistance and the best opportunity for success. To sign up, visit CHIA VIc's website here
Opportunity for Victorian Community Service Sector CEOs to Study at Harvard Business School
Each year, through its Non-Profit Fellowship Program, the Harvard Club of Victoria sends up to three CEOs from the Victorian community service sector to Harvard Business School to attend the Strategic Perspectives in Nonprofit Management (SPNM) program. An HCV Non-Profit Fellowship provides A$14,000 of funding to cover the SPNM fees (tuition and case materials, accommodation, and meals), as well as travel to and from Boston, plus a study tour to non-profit organisations in North America. Harvard Business School have advised their intention to provide a face-to-face program in Boston in July 2022.
The Fellowships are for CEOs in service delivery organisations in the community service sector, with specific focus in the following areas: alcohol and drug services; children, youth and families; disability; environment; family violence; housing and homelessness; Indigenous services; mental health; refugee resettlement. These organisations must be headquartered in Victoria, have DGR status, and have annual revenues over A$3 million. CEOs of industry associations (e.g. peak bodies), management support organisations, and consulting firms are not eligible.
Next year – 2022 – will be the HCV Non-Profit Fellowship Program’s 23rd year and we have now sent 42 CEOs to SPNM in Boston, as well as facilitating another 2 CEO’s for the virtual program in 2021.
The feedback that we have received over the years from Fellowship recipients has been uniformly positive and we are confident that the HCV Fellowship provides an outstanding leadership development experience for non-profit CEOs. Our aim is to help them make an even bigger impact in the community service sector in future years.
KEY DATES
1 December – 4 February 2022: Application period for HCV Non-Profit Fellowships.
Saturday 26 March 2022: Shortlisted candidates are interviewed. Provisional Fellowship recipients are notified on the day of interview if possible.
10–16 July 2022: SPNM program is planned to take place on the Harvard Business School campus in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
