Policy

2011 Policy Recommendations

Intent on taking an inclusionary approach to working with its key partners, CHFV has detailed eight policy areas that set out to achieve realistic but ambitious outcomes that will provide significant boosts to the growth of community housing stock. Read more.

Federal Government: Housing Policy, Directions, and Funding

The Federal Government’s former Minister for Housing, Tanya Plibersek, has articulated a housing reform agenda linked to the provision of funds under both the National Affordable Housing Agreement (NAHA) and Federal Stimulus Package. 

The reforms to enable the growth of community housing will focus on a number of key objectives, such as:

• Support for community housing organisations to grow the amount of community housing stock so as to develop a viable and growing housing option for households on low incomes
• Implement a program of national registration and regulation, thereby enabling community housing organsations to operate more readily across different states
• Renegotiate how the Commonwealth funds social housing to the States, and to provide an incentive for States to increase and improve their stock
• Deliver better quality housing that will meet the current and future needs of tenants and their support providers
• Provide tenants with a choice of housing provider using a single housing registration list

State Government: Housing Policy, Directions, and Funding

The Victorian Government has, for a number of years, been growing the community housing sector through the development of regulatory infrastructure and the provision of capital funding.

It has identified community housing as an excellent vehicle for the development of new affordable housing stock and, increasingly, the redevelopment of its public housing portfolio. In part, this strategic direction has been driven by the community housing sector’s capacity to deliver more housing for the taxpayer’s dollar compared to public housing.

In exchange for requiring all community housing organisations receiving funds or managing its stock to become registered and regulated either as a Housing Association or as a Registered Housing Provider, the Victorian Government has shown tremendous confidence in the community housing sector via the following actions: 

• A large allocation of funds to Housing Associations and Registered Housing Providers
• The requirement that all private developers partner with community housing organisations when bidding for public housing re-developments
• The transfer of ownership of publicly-managed stock to Housing Associations