It’s hard to believe a decade has passed since Housing Choices Australia began. While we have achieved an enormous amount over that period, the housing environment for vulnerable people is tougher in 2018 than it has been at any time since the Great Depression.
We remain utterly focussed on increasing the supply of a ordable and social housing stock and growing and developing our proven partnerships with governments and others to achieve our goal - that every Australian should live in a decent home they can a ord. This year, our South Australian operations grew significantly through the transfer of properties to our management portfolio under the Renewal SA program. Our long experience in high quality resident engagement proved, yet again, to be an e ective way to stabilise tenancies and create vibrant, sustainable communities around our residents. The lived experience of our residents is a fundamental driver of our forward-looking business strategy. We continue to implement systems that allow us to collect and evaluate data in such a way that our service provision can be smarter and better. Our asset management team is increasingly focussed on ageing-in-place solutions for new dwellings; innovative design and construction techniques that will allow the internal physical characteristics of a building to be adjusted to meet a resident’s changing needs over time. This approach is highly applicable to the new disability housing paradigm created under the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS).
We received a grant from the Victorian Property Fund to build new housing developments in Melbourne, declared ourselves open for business in New South Wales and actively pursued new opportunities in other states. We also worked hard in conjunction with peer housing providers in several regions to develop creative housing supply solutions. We are heartened by the growing confidence of governments who increasingly look to community housing providers of scale to help deliver new supply. Looking back over our first decade, I am reminded of the many inspiring individuals who helped get us o the ground; including former deputy Prime Minister Brian Howe AO, disability campaigner Bruce Bonyhady AM and many others. What a legacy they have left in helping create this organisation. We have watched with pride as some of our early sta members moved on to become leaders in the sector and we look at our new sta and emerging leaders with great excitement as we see the fresh ideas and enthusiasm they bring to our work. We particularly recognise the importance of building a healthy and innovative workplace culture that will attract the best calibre people to come and work with us.
Michael Lennon Managing Director, Housing Choice Australia
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