Elevating the residenT voice and experience AROUND THE COUNTRY VICTORIA
Supportive partnerships and greater opportunities for residents to participate and be heard in Housing Choices programs and initiatives laid the foundation for another successful year for the Victorian Housing Choices team.
Preston Hub celebrated 10 years of a successful housing and support partnership Housing Choices, in partnership with NEAMI and with participation of residents, celebrated the 10-year anniversary of the Preston Hub place-based housing and support model at High Street Preston in October. A brass plaque now commemorates the 10 years in the terrace garden next to a waterfall acknowledging residents (and those who have passed away) who contributed to creating the community it is today. A display in the entrance foyer of ‘Our Community’ was also established which showcases the flag of each resident’s heritage including the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander flag, and the LBGTQI+ flag to celebrate the inclusive and diverse community at Preston Hub. Resident participation in procurement Driven by Housing Choices Facilities Manager Stephen Key, the Victorian team undertook a project to design and implement a head contractor model for the cleaning of common areas in Housing Choices properties across Victoria. Utilising residents in our procurement process was an exciting inaugural step for Victorian Housing Services operations who are on a journey towards enhancing the resident voice and improving the resident experience. The aim was to deliver improved efficiency by reducing current nine common area cleaning contractors down to one head contractor to enable more formal, centralised oversight to ensure consistent best-practice benchmarks, improved cost controls and a standardised cleaning frequency set across each of our high medium and low-density sites. Resident participation in procurement also enabled the opportunity for issues to be identified and ultimately improve the decision-making process and resultant outcomes. All key stakeholders were involved in the selection of head contractors and participation sought from an interested resident representative who assisted in making decisions about the changes as part of the procurement panel with Housing Choices to review, score and appoint a head contractor for our common area cleaning services with a three-year term contract. The team continues to work more broadly towards sophisticated forms of resident engagement and create opportunities to build the capacity of tenants to participate in assuring transparency and accountability of how we procure and deliver services.
Human Services Standards Accreditation Housing Choices Victoria successfully passed its Human Service Standards Accreditation review in October 2021. Highlights from the accreditation feedback included that there was: • A strong focus on early intervention strategies with residents. • Great alternative support strategies and alternative programs to residents through COVID. • Great risk management strategies with residents’ safety. • Long, sustained relationships with our residents. • Strong relationships with partner agencies. • Great collaboration, cohesiveness, support and communication between staff members and teams. • Completion of RAP and intensive cultural training demonstrates a strong investment by the organisation.
Pictured Left: Victorian Community Development Officers Naomi Board and Britta Lancaster delivered Christmas hampers to residents.
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