Report No. 20, 57th Parliament-Exploring models of housing in Australia's two largest capital cities: Sydney and Melbourne 2022
Community Support and Services Committee
09 Sep 2022
Tabled Paper
Report No. 20, 57th Parliament - Exploring models of housing in Australia's two largest capital cities: Sydney and Melbourne 2022

Exploring models of housing in Australia’s two largest capital cities:

Sydney and Melbourne 2022

Report No. 20, 57th Parliament Community Support and Services Committee September 2022

Community Support and Services Committee

Chair Ms Corrine McMillan MP, Member for Mansfield

Deputy Chair Mr Stephen Bennett MP, Member for Burnett

Members Mr Michael Berkman MP, Member for Maiwar

Ms Cynthia Lui MP, Member for Cook

Dr Mark Robinson MP, Member for Oodgeroo

Mr Robert Skelton MP, Member for Nicklin

Committee Secretariat

Telephone +61 7 3553 6623

Email cssc@parliament.qld.gov.au

Technical Scrutiny Secretariat

+61 7 3553 6601

Committee webpage www.parliament.qld.gov.au/CSSC

Acknowledgements

The committee acknowledges the assistance provided by the New South Wales and Victorian governments, as well as the Parliament of New South Wales and the Parliament of Victoria for their hospitality.

All web address references are current at the time of publishing.

  Exploring models of housing in Australia’s two largest capital cities: Sydney and Melbourne 2022 

Community Support and Services Committee  i 

Contents  Abbreviations  ii 

Chair’s foreword  iii 

1  Introduction  1 

1.1  Role of the committee  1  1.2  Background  1 

1.2.1  The context of the committee’s study tour to Australia’s 2  largest and most  populous cities  1 

1.2.2  Housing terminology used in this report  2 

2  New South Wales  4 

2.1  NSW Government provision of social housing  4  2.1.1  Site visits  4 

2.2  Community service providers  7  2.2.1  Women’s Community Shelters  7  2.2.2  Bridge Housing  9 

2.3  NSW Parliament  11 

3  Victoria  12 

3.1  Victorian Government provision of social housing  12  3.1.1  Ground Lease Model  12 

3.2  Community organisations  13  3.2.1  First Nations housing  13  3.2.2  Youth housing and services  14  3.2.3  Mixed tenure development  17 

3.3  Affordable and sustainable housing  17  3.4  Victorian Parliament  18 

4  Social housing provision in Queensland  19 

4.1  The Queensland housing context  19  4.2  Consideration  of  Auditor‐General’s  Report  1:  2022‐23  – Delivering  Social Housing 

Services  20 

5  Recommendation  21 

Appendix A – Social Housing Study Tour, 7 to 10 June 2022: Itinerary  22 

Statement of Reservation  24 

 

   

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Abbreviations

AHO NSW Aboriginal Housing Office

AHV Aboriginal Housing Victoria

CEO Chief Executive Officer

committee Community Support and Services Committee

DCHDE Department of Communities, Housing and Digital Economy

DCJ NSW Department of Communities and Justice

DFFH Victorian Department of Families, Fairness and Housing

DPE NSW Department of Planning and Environment

DSS Australian Department of Social Services

LAHC NSW Land and Housing Corporation

LACCS NSW Legislative Assembly Committee on Community Services

LSIC Victorian Legislative Council’s Legal and Social Issues Committee

NSW New South Wales

Wayss Limited Wayss

WCS Women’s Community Shelters

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Chair’s foreword

This report presents a summary of the information gained during the Community Support and Services Committee’s study tour of the provision of social housing in Sydney and Melbourne, from 7 to 10 June 2022.

There are significant housing challenges currently facing Australia, and in fact, more broadly in the Western World, and these challenges are no less impactful in Queensland.

The committee determined to explore models of housing projects to address these challenges in two cities much larger than Brisbane. Sydney and Melbourne are more multicultural, more complex and more densely populated, but nonetheless the challenges facing these two cities are also those experienced in Brisbane, South East Queensland and regional Queensland.

Recognising a trajectory of demand, the Queensland Government has commenced construction of 4,897 new social homes since 2015, and completed 3,950 social homes (as at 25 August 2022).

Housing supply pressures experienced nationally since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic were compounded in Queensland with unprecedented population migration, limited land availability, record low rental vacancies, rising house prices, building supply issues, inflation, labour shortages, and rising fuel prices driven by the war in Ukraine. In 2021-22, the Queensland Government commenced 832 new social homes across Queensland and completed 410 new social homes in the same period – exceeding the first-year target of the Housing and Homelessness Action Plan 2021-2025 of 727 social housing commencements by 30 June 2022.

The Queensland Government also provided almost 200,000 forms of housing assistance, including emergency housing, social housing, private market assistance (such as rental grants and bond loans) and homelessness services – to ease the pressure being felt in the system right now.

I was encouraged to see the provision of support services as part of modern housing development planning in Sydney and Melbourne. I applaud the efforts of both governments in these jurisdictions to undertake the long view on social housing planning and facilitate housing developments on underutilised government land.

Here in Queensland, when new suburbs are designed, there needs to be a consideration of social housing provisions and supports by local councils when approving development applications. Further investigation is required of local councils’ responsibility, participation in, and the barriers to, supply of housing, including more social and affordable housing in Queensland.

Queensland is a growing State and as we prepare to host the 2032 Olympic Games we face unprecedented challenges in this space. A coordinated response from all three levels of government including from the Brisbane City Council, from community organisations, and from the not-for-profit and private sector, is required to meet future housing challenges in Queensland.

I commend this report to the House.

Corrine McMillan MP Chair

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1 Introduction

1.1 Role of the committee

The Community Support and Services Committee (committee) is a portfolio committee of the Legislative Assembly which commenced on 26 November 2020 under the Parliament of Queensland Act 2001 and the Standing Rules and Orders of the Legislative Assembly.1

The committee’s areas of portfolio responsibility are:

• Communities, Housing, Digital Economy and the Arts

• Seniors, Disability Services and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Partnerships

• Children, Youth Justice and Multicultural Affairs.

The functions of a portfolio committee include the examination of bills and subordinate legislation in its portfolio area to consider:

• the policy to be given effect by the legislation

• the application of fundamental legislative principles

• matters arising under the Human Rights Act 2019

• for subordinate legislation – its lawfulness.2

1.2 Background

On 28 March 2022, recognising Queensland’s predicted population growth especially in the south east corner of the state, the committee resolved to conduct a study tour in Sydney and Melbourne, 2 substantially larger cities than those in Queensland, to investigate innovative models for the provision of social housing, as part of an examination into:

• funding models used to finance public and community housing

• initiatives to address homelessness

• initiatives to house seniors, including women. Housing is a portfolio responsibility of the committee, with public housing availability and housing affordability a key concern for other portfolios of the committee, including Seniors, First Nations Peoples and young people.

The committee met with key stakeholders in government and community services, and conducted site visits to social housing developments. The committee also met and shared information with their counterpart committees in the New South Wales (NSW) Parliament and the Parliament of Victoria about problems of homelessness and housing availability. (See Appendix A for the study tour itinerary).

1.2.1 The context of the committee’s study tour to Australia’s 2 largest and most populous cities

Australia has experienced widespread pressure on the supply of housing in recent years, with a shortage of rental properties, ageing public housing stock in the major cities, and housing affordability

1 Parliament of Queensland Act 2001, section 88 and Standing Order 194. 2 Parliament of Queensland Act 2001, s 93; and Human Rights Act 2019 (HRA), ss 39, 40, 41 and 57.

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a challenge for all jurisdictions. The COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated the situation with further acceleration in price growth and a tightening of the rental market.

According to the Australian Department of Social Services (DSS), in 2019-20, there were around 802,000 occupants living in Australia’s 4 main social housing programs. At 30 June 2020, there were around 436,300 dwellings, including:

• 69% or 300,400, public housing dwellings

• 24% or 103,900, community housing dwellings

• 3% or 14,600, State Owned and Managed Indigenous Housing dwellings

• 4% or 17,400, Indigenous community housing dwellings.3

The national waiting lists for social housing increased on average by 3.5% per annum from 2017 to 2021. This growth outpaced the annual average increase in the estimated residential population in Australia over the same period of 1.25%.4 While the number of households in social housing has generally increased over time, it has not kept pace with the growth in the overall number of households in Australia. The proportion of social housing households has declined from 4.7% in 2010 to 4.2% in 2020.5

In the 2016 Census, more than 116,000 people were estimated to be homeless in Australia. Of this number:

• 58% were male

• 21% were aged 25 to 34

• 20% identified as Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples

• around 51,000 (44%) were living in severely crowded dwellings

• over 21,000 (18%) were living in supported accommodation for the homeless; and

• 8,200 (7%) were rough sleepers.6

1.2.2 Housing terminology used in this report

Public housing is housing provided by a state government. In NSW, eligible tenants pay between 25% and 30% of their assessable household income as rent.7 In Victoria, public housing rent is capped at 25% of the assessable income of all household members.8 Some public housing is managed by

3 DSS, Housing and Homelessness Agreement Review: Commissioned Study, p 10. 4 Report on Government Services 2022, Housing data tables, Table 18A.5. 5 AIHW 2021 – Housing assistance in Australia, Occupants and households - Australian Institute of Health and

Welfare (aihw.gov.au). 6 DSS, Housing and Homelessness Agreement Review: Commissioned Study, p 12; referring to Australian

Bureau of Statistics, Census 2001 to 2016. 7 New South Wales Government, Department of Communities & Justice, ‘Charging Rent Policy’,

https://www.facs.nsw.gov.au/housing/policies/charging-rent-policy. 8 Victorian Government, Housing Victoria, ‘Market rent and rental rebates’,

https://www.housing.vic.gov.au/market-rent-and-rental-rebates.

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community housing providers.9 In Queensland, the term public housing is not used, social housing is the preferred term.

Community housing is housing owned by the government and managed by not-for-profit community housing providers, which may work in partnership with state governments.10 Community housing sources funding from government grants, government loans, arrangements with councils, philanthropy, social impact investment and leveraging of capital (such as their existing buildings).11 Rent for community housing is capped at 30% of the combined gross incomes of all members of the household, plus any Commonwealth Rent Assistance to which the tenant is entitled.12

Social housing is an umbrella term that includes both public housing and community housing. It generally indicates housing that involves some degree of subsidy.13

Affordable rental housing may be owned by private developers, investors, local governments, charitable organisations or community housing providers.14 This type of accommodation is not social housing.15 It is usually managed by not-for-profit community housing providers, and sometimes by private organisations.16 As a general guide, the rental rate may be determined in a number of ways, including 25% below the price of similar homes in the area, or 30% of the tenant’s gross income.17

Waiting lists are managed by state agencies to facilitate access to social housing, with priority given to those considered to be high priority applicants. Queensland does not operate a waiting list, rather a Social Housing Register.18

9 Rental and Housing Union – Victoria, ‘Public, Social, Community or Affordable? Demystifying Housing Terms

in Victoria’, https://rahu.org.au/public-social-community-or-affordable-demystifying-housing-terms-in- victoria/.

10 Victorian Government, Housing Victoria, ‘A housing explainer – social housing in Victoria’. 11 Rental and Housing Union – Victoria, ‘Public, Social, Community or Affordable? Demystifying Housing Terms

in Victoria’. 12 Rental and Housing Union – Victoria, ‘Public, Social, Community or Affordable? Demystifying Housing Terms

in Victoria’. 13 Victorian Government, Housing Victoria, ‘A housing explainer – social housing in Victoria’,

https://www.vic.gov.au/homes-victoria-housing-explainer. 14 New South Wales Government, Department of Communities & Justice, ‘What is affordable housing’,

https://www.facs.nsw.gov.au/providers/housing/affordable/about/chapters/what-is-affordable-housing. 15 New South Wales Government, ‘Affordable housing’, https://www.nsw.gov.au/life-events/living-

nsw/renting-a-property-nsw/low-cost-housing-options/affordable-housing. 16 New South Wales Government, Department of Communities & Justice, ‘What is affordable housing’. 17 New South Wales Government, ‘Affordable housing’, refer to link above. 18 Queensland Department of Communities, Housing and Digital Economy, ‘Housing register’,

https://www.qld.gov.au/housing/public-community-housing/eligibility-applying-for-housing/waiting-for- housing/housing-register.

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2 New South Wales

2.1 NSW Government provision of social housing

In NSW, public housing is administered by 2 departments: the Department of Communities and Justice (DCJ) is responsible for housing clients and tenancies, and the Department of Planning and Environment (DPE) is responsible for housing assets through the Land and Housing Corporation (LAHC) and the Aboriginal Housing Office (AHO), and housing strategy.

On 7 June 2022, executives from the DPE and LAHC and AHO provided the committee with an overview of the NSW social housing system and briefed the committee on the following:

• Housing 2041, NSW 20-year housing strategy

• the $51 billion LAHC social housing property portfolio

• partnering with community housing providers

• strategic redevelopment

• mixed tenure

• estate renewal and innovation

• homelessness

• public housing relocations, priority housing and tenancy management in Sydney

• the functions of the AHO.

The committee was briefed on the scale of Homes NSW housing strategy, encompassing not just the provision of social and affordable housing, but systematic change across the state. The Homes NSW housing strategy considers 4 key factors: supply, affordability, diversity and resilience, and includes collaboration with the private market, and considers infrastructure land use and demographic trends, as part of the housing ecosystem.

The committee was particularly interested in learning that the LAHC social housing system is a self- funded entity, managing approximately $50 billion worth of housing stock across the state. As part of the ‘Future directions’ strategy, the committee learned that the ‘Communities Plus’ program is expected to deliver 63,000 housing units over 50 years, substituting new builds for old and ageing housing stock.

The committee received a briefing about the work of the AHO, a statutory government agency that provides affordable housing to Aboriginal people in the state. Some of the AHO’s innovations include specific design guidelines suited to community, climate zone and being mindful of cultural sustainability. For example, there is a recognition in the design that the kitchen is the hub of the dwelling, and there is the capacity for extended family to live with the resident.

2.1.1 Site visits

DCJ officer, Margaret Macrae, briefed the committee on RedLink and conducted a walking tour of the Redfern public housing towers and community facilities at 55 Walker Street, Redfern. RedLink is an integrated support and services hub for the tenants of the Redfern public housing towers and

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surrounding community.19 The committee was informed that RedLink is the point of meeting and connection for tenants of the Redfern public housing towers and surrounding community. The committee observed community gardens cared for by the community, and other support services available for community activities to occur within the facility, coordinated through RedLink.

Site visit to Walker Street, Redfern, Tuesday 7 June 2022.

The committee attended Belmore Park (near Central Station in Sydney) with a DCJ Homelessness Manager, and observed a Homelessness Outreach Support Team outreach session. The committee observed some of the unit’s activities in relation to homeless people located in the park, including checking on people’s health and safety, and identifying them through global positioning software applications.

The DCJ informed the committee that in relation to homelessness, the government’s aim was to reduce street sleeping by 50% by 2025. The department uses ‘assertive outreach’ as a method for housing homeless people. The DCJ identifies and locates individuals and provides them with individual case coordination including the provision of options for housing and daily support.

19 RedLink works in collaboration and partnership with over 40 government departments and other

organisations to provide practical assistance and referrals for a range of housing, health, legal and community services, to reduce disadvantage within the local community.

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Representatives of the LAHC provided the committee with a site visit to a mixed tenure development at 586 Mowbray Road, Lane Cove, which is managed by St George Community Housing. The committee observed a modern, well designed and maintained building. The mixed tenure of the building consists of a portion of social housing units and privately owned units. The committee met with one social housing resident who described his appreciation of, and satisfaction with, living in the development.

Site visit to Mowbray Road, Lane Cove, Tuesday 7 June 2022.

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Site visit to Mowbray Road, Lane Cove, Tuesday 7 June 2022.

2.2 Community service providers

2.2.1 Women’s Community Shelters

Mosman House, in the northern Sydney suburb of Mosman, is an innovative project providing safe and secure transitional housing to women over 55, with support to identify permanent housing solutions.20 Mosman House is the second project of Women’s Community Shelters (WCS) and Link Housing to turn a Twilight Aged Care property – which was a vacant aged care facility - into housing for 20 older women.

20 Women’s Community Shelters, ‘Mosman House’, https://www.womenscommunityshelters.org.au/shelter- network/mosmanhouse/.

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Mosman House provides transitional housing to women aged over 55 while WCS provides support to identify permanent housing solutions for them. The project is part of WCS’s Pathways Home ‘meanwhile-use’ program, which involves partnering with developers and other landholders to identify under-utilised or vacant property for use primarily as transitional housing on an interim basis.21 The property is still owned by Twilight Aged Care, and is a collaboration between WCS, AW Edwards, the Temple and Webster furniture stores and Northern Beaches Women’s Shelter.

The committee met with representatives of WCS on 8 June 2022, including Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Annabelle Daniel, who provided a guided walk around the Mosman House property.

The committee was impressed by the practical implications of the ‘meanwhile use’ concept, and the work of WCS to encourage collaboration with other non-government organisations and private enterprise. The committee noted that property was transformed from a disused aged care building into a tastefully restored and decorated, clean, modern, secure and warm home for older women.

Site visit to Mosman House, Alexander Avenue, Mosman, Tuesday 7 June 2022.

21 Women’s Community Shelters, ‘Pathways Home’, https://www.womenscommunityshelters.org.au/shelter-network/pathways-home/.

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Site visit to Mosman House, Alexander Avenue, Mosman, Tuesday 7 June 2022.

2.2.2 Bridge Housing

Bridge Housing provides long-term accommodation for people on low to moderate incomes through its property portfolio across Sydney. Bridge Housing Limited is a Tier 1 community housing provider, registered under the National Regulatory System for Community Housing.22

On 7 June 2022, the committee was briefed by Bridge Housing executives, including CEO Rebecca Pinkstone, on its operations; and was provided a site tour of Bridge Housing’s development at Elger Street, Glebe.

The committee learned that Bridge Housing is one of the largest community housing organisations in NSW, managing approximately 3,000 properties. Originally the Elger Street site consisted of 130 ageing public housing apartments with walk-up access only. In cooperation with LAHC, the local council and Bridge Housing, the Elger Street development commenced in 2008. The completed Elger Street development consists of 492 dwellings, of which 150 are social housing units, consisting of 130 one-bedroom apartments and 20 two-bedroom apartments.

Elger Street was designed to house aged residents with some capacity for people with disabilities. The committee learned that the tenant community were originally encouraged to get together to report maintenance, but they have since become an active community group that runs art clubs, yoga classes, music sessions, lunch groups, and organises guest speakers. Designated tenants have access to common rooms with computers, so that the community can run their own activities. The community

22 Tier 1 housing providers are housing providers with asset procurement and development functions (and the ability to grow social and affordable housing supply through construction, purchase or acquisition) and/or complex tenancy and property management functions that operate at scale. Tier 1 housing providers must be incorporated as either a company limited by shares or by guarantee under the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth); or a corporation incorporated under the Corporations (Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander) Act 2006 (Cth). See: https://www.nrsch.gov.au/__data/assets/file/0004/288319/General_FS.pdf, p 2.

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gardens on the rooftop and ground level are maintained by the tenants. Bridge Housing provides some services, such as job skilling and facilitating some health services. Bridge Housing also manages a real estate agency for Elger Street and other nearby housing developments. The committee was informed that tenancy is very high, at a constant of approximately 98% and the level of residents in arrears significantly low.

The committee met with residents in the community room and visited the property’s rooftop garden and community zone. The committee was impressed by the strong sense of community at work within the building and the feeling of belonging, as conveyed by the residents.

Site visit to Elger Street, Glebe, Wednesday 8 June 2022.

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2.3 NSW Parliament

On 8 June 2022, the committee met with its counterpart committee in the NSW Parliament, the NSW Legislative Assembly Committee on Community Services (LACCS). Chair Mrs Melinda Pavey, Member for Oxley, and Deputy Chair, Mr Justin Clancy, Member for Albury, and other committee members welcomed the committee to the NSW Parliament.

Over a working lunch, the committee heard of the LACCS’s work on, and findings, from their Inquiry into the Protocol for Homeless People in Public Places, from which the committee’s report was tabled on 19 November 2020.23 The committee was also briefed on the LACCS’s more recent work; Options to improve access to existing and alternate accommodation to address the social housing shortage.24 More generally, committee members from both committees shared their knowledge and experiences undertaking their responsibilities as committees within the portfolios of community service delivery, housing, homeless services, and multicultural community services.

The committee also had an opportunity to view Question Time in the Legislative Assembly.

23 NSW Legislative Assembly Committee on Community Services, ‘Inquiry into the Protocol for Homeless

People in Public Places’, https://www.parliament.nsw.gov.au/committees/inquiries/Pages/inquiry- details.aspx?pk=2568.

24 NSW Legislative Assembly Committee on Community Services, ‘Options to improve access to existing and alternate accommodation to address the social housing shortage’, https://www.parliament.nsw.gov.au/committees/inquiries/Pages/inquiry-details.aspx?pk=2823.

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3 Victoria

3.1 Victorian Government provision of social housing

Public housing in Victoria is owned and managed by Homes Victoria. The committee met with executives from Homes Victoria on 9 June 2022, and was briefed on the following:

• Homes Victoria’s vision and long-term strategy

• the Big Housing Build

• initiatives to grow social and affordable housing

• Aboriginal housing and self determination

• community housing and the Ground Lease Model

• the Homelessness to a Home program

• the Homes for Families program.

Homes Victoria was established in November 2020 to address endemic problems in relation to social housing in Victoria. For over 30 years there had been a shortage of social housing, a shrinking proportion of purpose-built affordable housing, and poor housing managers; at significant cost to the Victorian taxpayer, and long-term detrimental effects on the individual. The state’s social housing stock had aged, lacked stability and safety, and had become accessible only to the most marginalised people. Homes Victoria recognised that long term, urban planning for the future needs to consider not just infrastructure, schools and hospitals, but also social and affordable housing.

The Big Housing Build, managed by Homes Victoria, is a $5.3 billion program to fast-track the construction and acquisition of social and affordable housing across metropolitan and regional Victoria.25 The committee was informed that 8-9% of total government spending is on housing construction, supporting approximately 18,000 jobs across the state. The Big Housing Build targets and builds on underutilised government land. The program also involves the government purchasing land from the private sector, with capital investment by the state, for the land and the construction of housing projects.

3.1.1 Ground Lease Model

Under the Ground Lease Model, Homes Victoria leases public land to a not-for-profit project consortium that will finance, design, construct, manage and maintain new housing. The community housing provider manages and maintains the sites for 40 years, before handing all land and buildings back to Homes Victoria. The homes are to be returned in the same condition they were in at the start of the contract term.26 The committee was informed that council and community involvement is vital to Ground Leave Models to engage with the community and manage expectations.

The Victorian Government has utilised the Ground Lease Model for housing at Brighton, Flemington, Prahran, South Yarra, Hampton East and Port Melbourne, with a minimum of 50% of social housing on each site. The committee was informed that as at June 2022, Ground Lease Model builds have provided a total of 619 social housing units, 126 affordable homes and 365 homes for market rental.

25 Victorian Government, DFFH, Annual Report 2020-21, p 9. 26 Victorian Government , ‘Frequently asked questions: Ground Lease Model, Preferred Bidder

announcement phase’, https://www.vic.gov.au/sites/default/files/2021-05/FAQ%20 %20Ground%20Lease%20Model%20-%20Homes%20Victoria.pdf.

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3.2 Community organisations

3.2.1 First Nations housing

Aboriginal Housing Victoria (AHV) is an Aboriginal community organisation responsible for managing over 1,500 rental properties for First Nations Peoples living in Victoria. On 9 June 2022, the committee met with executives from AHV. The committee was briefed on AHV’s purpose and functions and the Victorian Government’s Aboriginal housing and homelessness framework, Mana-na Woorn-tyeen maar-takoort: Every Aboriginal Person Has A Home, for which AHV is the lead agency.

AHV manages over 1,500 rental properties and provides affordable housing to 4,000 people across the state. The organisation also manages housing projects as part of the Big Housing Build, under the Aboriginal Rapid Housing Response Program.

The committee was informed of some of the challenges encountered by Aboriginal people seeking housing in an extremely tight rental market in Victoria, and AHV’s support to assist those experiencing difficulties securing a safe and affordable rental housing.

The committee was led on a guided site visit of a new AHV development site in Albert Street, Reservoir. The committee learned that where possible, construction workers on the site, as well as contractors and building suppliers, are First Nations peoples.

Site visit to Albert Street, Reservoir, Thursday 9 June 2022.

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Site visit to Albert Street, Reservoir, Thursday 9 June 2022.

3.2.2 Youth housing and services

On 10 June 2022, the committee travelled to Dandenong to meet with Wayss Limited (Wayss), a non- government organisation providing housing support services to people who are homeless or at risk of homelessness in Greater Dandenong, Casey and Cardinia, Victoria. Wayss aims to support its clients to obtain and retain housing, without entering the homelessness services system.27 The committee was informed that, in the Greater Melbourne regions where Wayss operates, there is plenty of new developments and housing estates but minimum investment in social housing. In regards to affordability, new housing estates are largely made up of 3 and 4 bedroom houses that are too expensive for single people.

Mr Wayne Merritt, CEO of Wayss, and Mr Stephen Nidenko, Manager, Services for Young People, Homelessness Services, briefed the committee on the following issues related to Wayss operations:

• the provision and availability of youth refuges and emergency accommodation

• the availability of housing for people escaping domestic and family violence

• the complex needs of many young people experiencing homelessness

• a recognition that responses to youth homelessness should be trauma-informed and provide wrap-around support in order to have long-lasting beneficial effect.

The committee visited the Wayss Youth Emergency Accommodation crisis refuge in Dandenong, which provides accommodation for 10 young people who may stay for up to 6 weeks. The refuge was well designed and maintained, with support staff available on the premises.

The committee travelled on to the Wayss Step Ahead facility in Pakenham, which provides homes and administrative support to vulnerable young people in a 12 to 18 month foyer program. A foyer program is a holistic response to young people, providing support with a focus on education,

27 Wayss, ‘What we do’, https://www.wayss.org.au/.

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The seven tests of Advantaged Thinking

The committee met with a number of residents and staff and viewed the shared facilities as well as 2

28

29

30

15Community Support and Services Committee

c* UNDERSTAND INVOLVE

The Foyer Federation (United Kingdom), 'Advantaged Thinking: Growing asset based thinking and practice', https://www.foyer.net/pages/advantaged-thinking.

'7 tests of Advantaged Thinking', The Foyer Foundation, United Kingdom, https://www.foyer. net/ resou rces/7-tests-of-advantaged-th i n king.

Victorian Government and Brotherhood of St Laurence, Better Futures: Advantages Thinking Practice Framework, https://assets.bsl.org.au/assets/services/Young- people/BSL_BetterFuturesFramework_Marl9_2020.pdf?mtime=20200406153829.

housing units. The committee was very appreciative of the young people who welcomed the committee into their homes to view and share their stories.

employment and training, developing independence, and addressing health and well-being issues. The program is conducted with an understanding that the young people involved will themselves be engaged in the support, education, employment and training. The Pakenham Step Ahead facility provides supported accommodation for single young people aged 16 to 25 years. Participants share their dwelling with one other participant, pay rent, and are provided with support to develop the skills and knowledge to live independently. The program provides participants with a rental history for future rental applications in the private rental market.

At the Pakenham facility the committee was briefed on Wayss' Advantaged Thinking Framework approach for working with young people. The Advantaged Thinking Framework was adopted from a United Kingdom concept by the Victorian Government as part of its Better Futures program, to support young people transitioning from care.^® An Advantaged Thinking approach is about working with young people to develop and Invest in their talents and aspirations, thereby enabling them to thrive, rather than focusing solely on their immediate needs. It promotes the creation of opportunities and works to break down any structural barriers that may be limiting those opportunities for young people.

CHALLENGE Do you actively campoign for Adwnnlag<»t4 Thinking and hold Diaodvantagod

Thinking to account?

BELIEVE Do you dreom o« big. foi

yowng poofilo Konto lose not* ot you do for

youtoolf and your fomfly

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16 Community Support and Services Committee

Site visit to Wayss Step Ahead Forum, Friday 10 June 2022.

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Community Support and Services Committee 17

3.2.3 Mixed tenure development

On Thursday 9 June 2022, the committee met with Charles Northcote, CEO of BlueCHP Housing. BlueCHP Housing Limited is a nationally registered, not-for-profit, Tier 1 Community Housing Provider with established operations in Queensland and NSW, and emerging activities in Victoria and South Australia. BlueCHP Housing accommodates close to 2,000 individuals in need of new homes. It is presently Australia’s largest provider of specialist disability accommodation through the National Disability Insurance Scheme.

The committee was informed that BlueCHP works with governments to secure land and build housing in mixed-use developments in a number of regional and urban areas in NSW and Victoria.

Mr Northcote stated in a written briefing to the committee in regard to the benefits of mixed tenure developments:

… state governments often value their housing assets at market value which would be okay if you could sell them, but this does not reflect the reality that people need to be housed. These are social infrastructure assets and provide a net benefit to the state in other costs such reduced crime, stability enabling people to get an education etc. A recent regional project that BlueCHP has participated in the initial stages has shown that for a $50m investment the government would get a $74m payback over 10 years.31

3.3 Affordable and sustainable housing

Nightingale Housing is a not-for-profit organisation that delivers apartments that are energy efficient, carbon neutral in operations, built near public transport and with rooftop solar and water harvesting. Nightingale apartments are sold to residents and community housing providers. The Nightingale policy is not to sell to investors. The apartments are designed to build community, with shared amenities, such as laundries and roof top gardens. The housing is provided at cost, with new residents signing a caveat agreeing to pass on that saving to future owners. Nightingale buildings are designed to reduce the long-term cost of ownership, through rooftop solar, embedded energy networks, and a shared super-fast commercial internet connection.32

The committee was provided with a tour of ‘Nightingale 1’ building in Brunswick, and viewed communal areas and one of the apartments. The committee also noted the nearby Nightingale Village development site, which is a 6-building carbon neutral precinct.

31 BlueCHP Limited, Correspondence dated 31 May 2022,

https://documents.parliament.qld.gov.au/com/CSSC-0A12/PSH-A03D/220531%20Letter%20and%20 Briefing%20paper%20-%20Charles%20Northcote%20BlueCHP%20Housing.pdf.

32 Nightingale Housing, ‘We make homes for people’, https://nightingalehousing.org/.

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18 Community Support and Services Committee

Site visit to Nightingale 1, Brunswick, Friday 10 June 2022.

3.4 Victorian Parliament

On 9 June 2022, the committee met with its counterpart committee from the Legislative Council in the Parliament of Victoria, the Legal and Social Issues Committee (LSIC). The committee received a briefing from the Senior Committee Manager, Legislative Council Standing Committees, on the LSIC’s recent Inquiry into Homelessness in Victoria, including the committee’s terms of reference, method of inquiry and community consultation.

Over a working lunch hosted by the Chair, Ms Fiona Patten MLC, Member for Northern Metropolitan, and members of the LSIC, committee members discussed the motivation for the Inquiry into Homelessness and the committee’s key findings.33 Committee members from both committees discussed concentric areas of responsibility within their portfolios and spoke of future knowledge sharing opportunities.

The committee also had an opportunity to view Question Time in the Legislative Council.

33 Parliament of Victoria, Legislative Council, ‘Inquiry into Homelessness in Victoria’,

https://www.parliament.vic.gov.au/lsic-lc/inquiries/inquiry/976.

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Community Support and Services Committee 19

4 Social housing provision in Queensland

The committee is continuing its research into the provision of social housing in Queensland.

4.1 The Queensland housing context

In terms of the Queensland housing market, the state has experienced unprecedented growth in recent years, placing pressure on the supply of housing across the state through increased demand. In 2021, Queensland had its highest net interstate migration since 1994, with 40,619 people moving to Queensland.34 The committee notes the Queensland Government’s Queensland Housing Strategy 2017-2027 encompasses the entire housing continuum from homelessness services and social housing to affordable housing, the private rental market, and home ownership. The Strategy has been, and continues to be, delivered through multiple action plans to deliver social housing, support vulnerable people and foster a fair and accessible housing system.

The committee received a written briefing from the Department of Communities, Housing and Digital Economy, and held a public briefing with representatives from the Australian Department of Social Services and the Department of Communities, Housing and Digital Economy (DCHDE) on 15 August 2022.35 Key issues raised during the briefing included:

• state and federal investment in infrastructure projects to increase social housing stock in Queensland

• housing support to women and children experiencing family and domestic violence

• social housing waiting lists and eligibility criteria for placing people on a waiting list

• housing programs to increase housing stock for Indigenous Australians, people with disabilities, seniors, and veterans

• programs to address youth homelessness

• measures to address housing construction in rural and remote areas

• programs to increase rental housing stock

• implementation of recommendations from the Auditor-General’s recent report, Delivering Social Housing Services.36

34 Department of Communities, Housing and Digital Economy, correspondence dated 25 July 2022,

attachment, p 5; https://documents.parliament.qld.gov.au/com/CSSC-0A12/PSH- A03D/Briefing%20Paper%20- %20Investigation%20into%20the%20provision%20of%20social%20housing%20-%20July%202022.pdf.

35 Public briefing transcript available on the committee’s webpage at: https://documents.parliament.qld.gov.au/com/CSSC-0A12/PSH-A03D/Transcript%20- %20%2015%20August%202022%20-%20CSC%20-%20Briefing%20- %20Provision%20of%20social%20housing.pdf.

36 Public briefing transcript, Brisbane, 15 August 2022.

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20 Community Support and Services Committee

4.2 Consideration of Auditor-General’s Report 1: 2022-23 – Delivering Social Housing Services

On 18 August 2022, the Auditor-General’s Report 1: 2022-23 – Delivering Social Housing Services was referred to the committee for consideration. The Report assesses whether social housing is effectively managed to meet the housing needs of vulnerable Queenslanders. The Queensland Audit Office examined processes and planning within the DCHDE to determine whether:

• the department effectively manages how individual social housing needs are assessed

• the department effectively allocates and manages social housing.

The report makes 8 recommendations related to applying for social housing and social housing allocations. The DCHDE has accepted all 8 recommendations of the report and commenced action to deliver on the recommendations as contained in the report.37

As at 9 September 2022, the committee’s consideration of Report 1: 2022-23 was ongoing.

37 Queensland Audit Office, Report 1: 2022-23 Delivering social housing services, pp 26-29.

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5 Recommendation

The committee recommends that the House notes this report.

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Appendix A – Social Housing Study Tour, 7 to 10 June 2022: Itinerary

Date Activity

Tuesday 7 June 2022 Travel from Brisbane to Sydney

Travel by taxi to Department of Planning & Environment

8:50am Meetings, briefings, working lunch Department of Planning and Environment Department of Communities and Justice Site visits: 55 Walker Street, Redfern Belmore Park, Hay Street, Haymarket 586 Mowbray Road, Lane Cove

Travel by taxi to Mosman

Site visit: 3:00pm Mosman House, Women’s Community Shelters

Wednesday 8 June 2022 8.45am Travel by taxi to Glebe

9.00am Presentation and site visit: Bridge Housing, Elger Street and Cowper Street senior’s social housing units, Glebe

11.00am Travel by taxi to NSW Parliament

Meeting, working lunch and Question Time: 12.00pm: NSW Legislative Assembly Community Services Committee

3.30 pm Travel by taxi to Sydney Airport

Travel from Sydney to Melbourne

Thursday 9 June 2022 Breakfast Meeting: 7:30am BlueCHP housing

Walk to office of Homes Victoria

Meeting and briefings: 9:00am Homes Victoria

Meeting and briefings and Question Time: 12.00pm: Parliament of Victoria, Legislative Council, Question time

Briefing 12.30pm – 1.00pm: Committee Manager, Legislative Council Legal and Social Issues Committee, briefing on the Inquiry into Homelessness In Victoria

Working lunch meeting 1.00pm – 2.00pm: Legislative Council Legal and Social Issues Committee at Parliament House, Melbourne

Travel by taxi to Fitzroy North

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23 Community Support and Services Committee

Date Activity

Site visit: 2.30pm Aboriginal housing project, Reservoir Meeting and briefing:

3.30pm Aboriginal Housing Victoria, Fitzroy North

Friday 10 June 2022 Travel by charter minibus service to Greater Melbourne region – Dandenong, Pakenham

Meeting and briefing:

9.30am Wayss community housing and homelessness services

Site visit:

10.00am Wayss Emergency Youth Accommodation (Dandenong)

Travel Dandenong to Pakenham

Briefing and site visit:

11.00am: Wayss Step Ahead Youth Foyer (Pakenham), briefing on Advantaged Thinking framework for working with young people

Lunch

Travel by charter minibus service to Brunswick

Site visit:

2:30pm Nightingale Housing: Nightingale 1 and Nightingale Village

Study tour ends

Travel Melbourne to Brisbane

Image taken at Wayss Emergency Youth Accommodation, Potter Street, Dandenong, Friday 10 June 2022.

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Statement of Reservation

Statement of Reservation - Community Support and Services Committee Report No. 20

Exploring models of housing in Australia’s two largest capital cities: Sydney and Melbourne 2022

Despite the di�erences in each State’s approach to social housing, many of the issues facing the NSW and Victorian Governments are similar to those with which we’re all too familiar in Queensland. This should be unsurprising, given the national dimensions of the housing crisis and that many of the drivers of the crisis are linked to Federal policy or issues common to all states - namely, the general commodification of housing; the treatment of housing as a vehicle for wealth creation, rather than a fundamental human right; and the Federal Government’s ongoing support for investment incentives like negative gearing and capital gains tax concessions.

But these common features are essentially the backdrop for the housing crisis that each of the NSW, Victorian and Queensland Governments is perpetuating, through their failure to implement meaningful rental reforms and the dramatic underinvestment in social housing.

The $1.9 billion announced with the last budget is welcome, but it’s a far cry from what’s required to meet the extraordinary and ever-growing need for social housing in Queensland. Additionally, it’s frustrating and plain misleading for the Government to tout the $1 billion Housing Investment Fund alongside this capital spending, when it will generate only tens of millions of dollars for the Government to actually spend on housing and homelessness each year.

Perhaps the most concerning common feature of social housing policy in each of NSW, Victoria and Queensland is that the chronic underinvestment in social housing is set to continue, while the social housing waiting list in each state continues to grow - the implicit policy position is that we will never house all those people on the social housing waiting list.

The Queensland Government appears to have taken this one step further.

In recent years the Government has narrowed the Social Housing Eligibility Criteria (SHEC), with the1

e�ect of excluding countless people from the social housing register - people who need housing support and would previously have been eligible - e�ectively masking how many people are being let down by the Government’s failing social housing policy.

Further, I believe there has been a concerted e�ort to obfuscate these changes, to the point of repeatedly misleading parliament when asked about this issue in both the last parliament and the current term.

1 Section 14 of the Housing Regulation 2015 (Qld) defines the Social Housing Eligibility Criteria as “the document with that name published by the department.”

Contact Us Visit Us Tel: (07) 37374100

1/49 Station Road, Indooroopilly maiwar@parliament.qld.gov.au Open: Monday to Friday 9am - 5pm wwww.michaelberkman.com.au

I have repeatedly asked the Housing Minister about these changes to the SHEC, and have repeatedly been told that “Social housing eligibility criteria has not changed since 2018.”2

Despite the Government’s consistent denial, it finally emerged in the most recent budget estimates hearings that the SHEC had, in fact, changed around October 2019. But even this answer from the Department continued to obfuscate and downplay the significance of the changes, describing very clear and consequential changes as being “further clarification”, a “reframing” of some criteria, or making certain elements of the SHEC “visible and transparent”.3

Key stakeholders in the community housing sector have been telling us about the consequences of these changes since 2019, and the data paints a clear picture of exactly when and how the changes to the SHEC have excluded people from the social housing register who would have previously been eligible.

Data from the social housing register, compiled and plotted by the Parliamentary Library, shows that from November 2019 - immediately following the changes to the SHEC - no new applicants were accepted onto the social housing register other than “very high need” applicants. Until this point hundreds of “high”, “moderate”, and “lower” need applicants were deemed eligible for social housing and added to the social housing register every single month.

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2 Community Support and Services Committee, Estimates Question on Notice No. 12, asked of the Minister for Communities and Housing, Minister for Digital Economy and Minister for the Arts on Wednesday, 13 July 2022 - see p27 of the Community Support and Services Committee's 2022-23 Budget Estimates - Volume of Additional Information. https://documents.parliament.qld.gov.au/tp/2022/5722T1017-C689.pdf

See also Question on Notice No. 668, asked of the Minister for Housing and Public Works, Minister for Digital Technology, Minister for Sport (Hon M. de Brenni) on Thursday, 18 June 2020, which states “The eligibility criteria for social housing has not changed.” https://documents.parliament.qld.gov.au/tableoffice/questionsanswers/2020/668-2020.pdf 3 Community Support and Services Committee, transcript of estimates hearing, 4 August 2022, p8:

“The advice that we have is that in around October 2019—and neither the associate nor I were in the department at the time—there was further clarification made to the social housing eligibility criteria. To be very clear about what factors were examined, the information we have is that the intake and assessment reform under the Queensland Housing Strategy did reframe, as the associate has said, those criteria to bring into the criteria core eligibility requirements which continued. Two eligibility criteria from the previous assessment process—appropriateness of current housing criteria and the accessibility sustainability criterion—were collapsed and brought together and renamed as ‘wellbeing’ criteria.

In terms of your question, member, those things existed before but they were not visible and transparent. They were made visible and transparent under the Queensland Housing Strategy amendments on the system.”

We can only guess at how many people have been excluded from the social housing register since November 2019 but, given the number of successful applicants before the changes to the SHEC, the number would be in the thousands. And the housing crisis has only worsened since then.

No matter how hard the Government tries to hide the problem, the number of people waiting for social housing has continued to grow. The Queensland Government is completely failing to meet this most fundamental need for some of the most disadvantaged people in the State, and no amount of spin or misinformation will change that.

No matter how poorly Governments in NSW and Victoria are performing at housing their residents, in a wealthy state like Queensland we deserve better.

Michael Berkman MP

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