Pictured Right: Elva and Adrian began working together as part of the front desk team, before Adrian moved across to the housing team.
“After a couple of weeks here I thought I actually really like the workplace culture, so I gave the website a look to see if there’s any available jobs, and I saw the one in the Specialist Housing Group team,” says Adrian. He chatted with his then manager, Housing Team Leader Dione Stephen who encouraged and referred Adrian to Laverne Mina, Manager of Specialist Disability Accommodation Participant Engagement. Sure enough, Adrian was a great fit for the role and moved into the Specialist Disability Accommodation team after just five weeks working the front desk. While Adrian said it is a bit of a steep learning curve with the NDIS and NDIA guidelines, he is excited to have a more permanent role at Housing Choices and is thrilled to have found a workplace with a great culture he fits into. Originally from Cairns, Elva Nawarie moved to Melbourne just before the first COVID lockdown in March 2020. It was tough timing, other than having a cousin down south, most of Elva’s family are in Queensland. “I came down to Melbourne with the idea of looking for work, then I got stuck. I thought there’d be more opportunities and wanted to move into admin.” After two years’ experience in a busy café franchise in Queensland, it was easy for Elva to pick up hospitality work in Melbourne while she looked for an admin role. She came across the Housing Choices reception position and decided to apply.
“I knew nothing about the housing sector, it was all new, but the customer service part was something I was experienced in.” After a few intense weeks of on-the-job training, Elva was running the front desk, as long-time reception manager Judy retired for the quiet life in Tassie. One of the temps Elva trained up was Adrian, who has since transitioned from front desk to housing operations. “Adrian was a lot of fun to work with and learnt the job really quickly.” The challenge of communicating all day and trying to help people under stress is something Elva’s taking in her stride, “I like being able to help people – if I don’t know the answer, I’ll ask someone who does.” Mona Chatskin joined Housing Choices in July 2019 after previously working at peak body, Community Housing Industry Association (CHIA) National as the Media and Communications Officer. CHIA’s staff worked in Housing Choices’ Melbourne office, as Michael Lennon, Housing Choices’ Managing Director, was also the Chair of CHIA at the time.
A new CHIA CEO led to the team relocating to Sydney, so Michael Lennon thought it would be a good opportunity for Mona to join Housing Choices’ Communications team. While working part-time at Housing Choices, Mona is also undertaking a PhD in media studies, and said she feels grateful that Housing Choices has always supported her studies and offered flexibility. “No matter how busy Michael is, whenever he sees me in the office he always stops and checks in with how the thesis is going. I really appreciate that, and it means a lot that he always touches base,” Mona said. The communications team has expanded since Mona first started at Housing Choices, back when the communications team just consisted of Mona and her manager. “Over 3 years, our communications team has grown with the expansion of the organisation.” “It’s exciting to see the number of projects coming down the pipeline and the opportunities we have as a team to communicate with staff, residents and external stakeholders about what we are doing.”
Pictured Left: Mona balances work with studies for a PhD in Media.
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2021-22 annual report
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