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YEARLY PERFORMANCE REPORT: HOW WE DID IN 2017

Being transparent about our performance is important to us. Here is an easy- to-read chart that tells you about what we measure and a traffic light system to clearly indicate our performance. Performance Measure Tasmanian Performance Our performance Traffic light Measure

Days to repair and

< 28 days

11 days

empty property

Days to allocate an empty property

< 14 days

5 days

when it has been repaired

Rent arrears for current tenants

2.5%

0.38%

Evictions

5-10%

5%

Tenancies maintained

75-90%

88%

Complaints resolved within 30 days

100%

100%

Urgent repairs completed

90%

96%

Priority repairs

90%

94%

Non-urgent repairs

90%

95%

Opening Doors at Queens Walk W O R D S

Scrabble is taken very seriously at Queens Walk - and for good reason. It’s a chance for the apprentices to take on their master at his own game. “Now when we play scrabble, they beat me – using their computers of course,” volunteer English teacher Phil chuckles. “It’s quite intense.” The truth is Phil couldn’t be more pleased for his competitors. Many of these men and women were newly arrived in Australia and had very little English skills when he first met them. Phil has been teaching migrant groups since Queens Walk was refurbished four years ago. The first to move into the redeveloped complex, he met refugee and

migrant residents who asked him to help them with their English. Over the past few years, his classes have expanded; up to nine in a group. “The approach I take is that we start from scratch, with the alphabet and then onto words and grammar,” he said. Phil has a theology degree and significant experience teaching in schools locally and overseas. “In any of our classes we have had people who come from a range of ethnicities, cultures and beliefs - Ethiopia, Eretria, Persia, Malaysia, Vietnam. That makes it interesting, challenging, tolerant and inclusive, because we all have a common ‘language’ - the desire to understand each other.”

Housing Choices Tasmania has supported the initiative with the provision of a white board, text books, readers and other equipment in the residents’ community room. “The aim of these classes and what’s important, is that everyone gains a sense of confidence in speaking and reading English,” Phil said. “Some people ask me why I do it. Simple. This is Australia and we look after our neighbours and our neighbourhood because it’s the right thing to do. It’s not a big deal. It’s just being Aussie.”

“...we all have a common ‘language’ - the desire to

understand each other.”

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