Quick links:
Accreditation under the National Community Housing Standards
Aims
The aim of the National Community Housing Standards is to set out
standards of good practice in service delivery in the community housing
sector throughout Australia. The standards attempt to cover all the elements
that constitute a high quality housing service for tenants in community
housing.
Background
The National Standards for Community Housing were introduced in 1998,
by the National Community Housing Forum (NCHF), following extensive consultation
with the sector. Funding for their development was provided by the Commonwealth
Government. A National Accreditation Council was established, to
monitor and review the implementation of the standards.
As well as the Standards themselves, the Forum also developed:
- a system to assess organisations on the basis of the standards,
and
- a structure to accredit community housing providers on the basis
of the standards.
The Standards were reviewed and updated in 2003.
The Accreditation process
Individual states have responsibility for implementation of the Standards.
Since 1999, the NSW and Queensland governments have funded the establishment
of Standards and Accreditation units and a number of community housing
providers in those states have achieved full three year accrediation.
There is no formal mechanism for accreditation against the standards in
Victoria, however community housing providers are being encouraged to
begin the 'self evaluation' phase of the accreditation process as a quality
improvement exercise. At this stage, the Victorian government says it
is committed to the introduction of a formal accreditation process, but
there is no timetable for this nor have resources yet been committed.
CHFV continues to lobby the government for the establishment of a formal
accreditation sytem for community housing providers in Victoria. Meanwhile,
the Federation is encouraging and assisting member organsitions to embark
on the process of self evaluation against the National Community Housing
Standards. There are several 'tools' which have been developed to assist
organsiations with this process (see under Resources
below).
Resources
National Community Housing Standards Manual - limited number of hard copies also available from CHFV.
The tools for self evaluation against the National Community
Housing Standards:
Self Evaluation
workbook
Tenant questionnaire
Referral Agency
questionnnaire
Other useful sites:
National Accreditation Council
DHS accreditation webpage
Queensland Standards and Accreditation Unit
St Georges Housing Association
Accreditation under the Homelessness Assistance Service Standards
Agencies that provide support services will be required to become accredited under the Victorian Homelessness Assistance Service (HAS) standards by December 2008. Plans for an accreditation system are currently being developed. Agencies are encouraged to self-assess against the standards in preparation for formal accreditation.
Transitional Housing Managers will be expected to both register as housing providers, and to accredit against the HAS Standards.
The Council to Homeless Persons has received funding to provide a support resource for agencies that will need to accredit against the HAS Standards. For further information, please visit their website at http://www.chp.org.au/
|
