KimBomford StateManager, Tasmania
2017-18 was a year of significance for the a ordable housing sector in Tasmania. A State election in March 2018 and subsequent change of responsible Minister, coincided with something of a tipping point; the recognition that, in terms of housing, Tasmania had reached crisis point.
What had been increasingly evident to many over the years, came to a head with a severe and critical lack of a ordable rental properties on the market and alarming increases in rental prices, making the reality of the situation impossible to ignore. An urgently-convened Housing Summit brought together a range of concerned stakeholders to explore the issues and delivered much-needed focus to both the immediate and longer-term needs. Housing Choices Tasmania was pleased to be a part of this process and since then, a part of the solution. I acknowledge the hard work of our committed sta here in Tasmania, ably supported by our corporate o ce, ensuring we achieved great operational highlights over the year. In the north-west, our residents clearly embrace our localised service approach and the community engagement we practice. Our southern-based residents are highly engaged in localised capacity-building activities, from group learning through to community gardening. We are on track to deliver 62 new dwellings by mid-2019 in the north west under programs supported by our State government partners. This development program will also inject around $7.7m into the community through flow-on benefits to local contractors and industry in general. Furthermore, we continue to seek opportunities to work with government on strategic approaches to alleviating the pressures on the housing system. During the year we completed construction of 16 additional, high quality, a ordable and accessible homes and our owned-portfolio now stands at 61.
We continued our proactive engagement with the important Rapid Rehousing initiative that helps people escaping family violence to restart their lives, first and foremost, in a safe and secure home. We now have a stable portfolio of head-leased properties and would like to take the opportunity to thank those private owners who make their properties available for this vulnerable group of Tasmanians. This year also saw the implementation of the Private Rental Incentive Scheme and we now manage eight head-leased properties under this pilot initiative. This year we continued to roll out our Property Condition Survey that enables us to identify issues in our properties and prioritise our maintenance response. We undertook Ventilation Standards compliance assessment and upgrades to almost 50% of our properties. As a compliance requirement under the Tasmanian Residential Tenancy Act 2007, this process ensures our properties are safe and healthy places for people to live in. Every one of our many positive and collaborative partnerships with contractors, developers, support organisations, community houses, child and family centres and local and state governments is vital to our long-term vision of building safe, accessible homes, supporting residents and building communities that thrive. Our community houses and child and family centres enable us to promote and deliver the community engagement activities that are so important to the long-term health and well-being of our residents. Partners such as Housing Connect and other support organisations work in parallel with us to ensure residents have the best possible chance of a successful tenancy.
41 | Annual Report 2018
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