Submission to National Housing and Homelessness Plan consultation

Introduction 


The Australasian Housing Institute (ahi:) congratulates the Australian Government on its work so far towards the National Housing and Homelessness Plan. At the National Housing Conference, Minister Julie Collins said that: 


‘National leadership and a strong focus on stable and affordable housing is fundamental to the Australian Government’s ambitious housing reform agenda.’ 

Along with many other organisations working in this field, ahi: acknowledges the importance of such an ambitious agenda, and the crucial role of social and affordable housing in achieving it. If we are to build a fairer housing system and one able to bear the fluctuations of the market without tipping people into homelessness, it will be essential to revitalise and grow this sector. 


To do this successfully will take a skilled, dedicated workforce. While this workforce comes from a wide range of professions, there is a set of skills and knowledge which are specific to the social housing sector. Delivering an ambitious strategy for social and affordable housing will require purposeful attention to the development and growth of this workforce. 


About ahi: 


For over 23 years the Australasian Housing Institute (ahi:) has served as a professional body for workers in the social and affordable housing sector across Australia and New Zealand. We have over 2,860 members across all States and Territories and across the Tasman, working in government and non-government housing organisations and in collaboration with Specialist Homelessness Services (SHS), Specialist Disability Accommodation (SDA) providers and other associated organisations. Our stated mission is to “unite and support the social, affordable and community housing sector across Australia and New Zealand”. Our purpose is “to empower people in our industry to excel in their work, and to love what they do”. 


We do this through a variety of strategies, including: 


  • Training and skill building around a range of issues pertinent to social housing professionals, from our ‘social housing induction’ program for new people in the sector to advanced training on asset management, trauma-informed work with tenants, personal development, and other pertinent issues. 
  • A mentoring program in which more experienced senior professionals are teamed with younger or newer members or members growing into leadership positions to help them achieve their career goals. 
  • The only certification program for social housing professionals in Australia, which enables housing professionals to establish and maintain their professional standards. 
  • Management of the Bright Future Awards which recognise excellence in social housing. 
  • Fostering an active, engaged membership through branches in most States and Territories and in New Zealand. 


As a professional body we are in a unique position to build skills and relationships across the government and non-government sector and between organisations. Our members also have a deep commitment to delivering and managing high quality social housing and a passion for a fair housing system. 


We are committed to continuing to develop the professionalism of our workforce. We have a memorandum with our counterpart organisation in the United Kingdom, the Chartered Institute of Housing (CIH), who are the peak body and leaders across the UK and Canada. 


On our work program for the coming year is the development of a set of professional standards for Australian housing professionals, modelled on CIH’s professional standards which can be viewed at https://www.cih.org/professional-standards. Our intention is to use these to drive an ongoing ethos of professionalism in the social and affordable housing workforce. 


It is this passion that leads to us making this submission. While most of the submission focuses on workforce issues, which are our primary mission, we also comment briefly on where we believe the strategy should focus and what it will take to build a fair, resilient housing system to support the objectives of the National Housing and Homelessness Plan. 


Social and Affordable Housing Priorities 


Australia will not simply be able to build its way out of the current housing crisis and the attendant rise in homelessness. The overwhelming impact of this crisis on low income households is a result not simply of a shortage of supply, but a fundamentally unequal distribution of housing resources. A key aspect of this is that our housing assistance budget has gradually shifted from the provision of social housing to the provision of subsidies for the private rental market, both in the firm of Commonwealth Rent Assistance paid to tenants, and to the use of tax subsidies for owners. While private rental is suitable for many people on moderate incomes, over-reliance on private housing leaves low and very low income households highly vulnerable. 


This means that the National Housing and Homelessness Plan needs to include substantial and sustained growth in the social and affordable housing sector. Social housing has been neglected in our housing system for the past three decades, with the supply of social housing essentially stagnant and falling as a proportion of our total housing. State Housing Authorities have managed the limited supply through steadily increased targeting, so that the eligible tenant cohort is primarily made up of households with complex needs. Many low income households with less acute needs are now permanently locked into unaffordable private rental as a result. 


Since this situation is the result of a long period of neglect, it will take time to rectify. What is needed is a long term commitment to double the stock of social and affordable housing to meet the housing needs of a substantial proportion of the 600,000 households with unmet housing needs identified by The Community Housing Industry Association as referenced on p48 of the Issues Paper. This is a monumental task which will require a commitment beyond the 10-year time horizon of the proposed strategy – an ambitious National Housing and Homelessness Plan needs to stretch 3 


over at least 20 years, as we see with the NSW Government’s Housing 2041 Plan and the long-term nature of the Housing Australia Futures Fund (HAFF). The current government has made a good beginning on this, by establishing the HAFF, the Social Housing Accelerator and the Closing the Gap initiatives. These will help build the social housing sector’s capacity for growth, but more will be needed. 


A substantial increase to social housing will make it much easier for the government to achieve gains in other related strategies. For instance, the great work of homelessness agencies is currently made difficult, as times impossible, by the shortage of available affordable rentals for high need people. It also contributes to achieving the other related strategies listed on Page 14 of the Issues Paper. Readily available housing makes it more likely that women will be able to escape violent relationships, creates a safer environment for children who are at risk of abuse and neglect, is a key to people with disability achieving their potential with fully included lives, and is vital to many elements of the ‘Closing the Gap’ strategy including goals around health, education, women’s safety, and employment. 


Workforce Issues 


Expanding the supply of social and affordable housing will require an expanded workforce with the skills to build, maintain and manage that housing and support the tenants who live in it. Yet the Issues Paper does not mention this workforce, and there is surprisingly little workforce planning undertaken at a national level. We have no consolidated information about how many people work in the social and affordable housing sector, and only very rough estimates on how many people would be required to deliver and manage each thousand new homes. However, we do know that the growth targets put in place by the Commonwealth, State and Territory governments in recent years will require many thousands of new workers. 


Working in the housing sector provides a career that its practitioners love and stick with long term. Our membership includes many professionals who have spent the bulk of their working lives delivering and managing social and affordable housing, and who are passionate about the value of this sector and its importance in delivering good lives for its tenants and their communities. This is a group of highly skilled professionals who are passionate about what they do. 


Delivery of social housing involves people with many different backgrounds. Some of the principal areas of professional expertise include: 


  • Property development, including land acquisition, urban and regional planning, and project development. 
  • Design and building, including architects, engineers, project managers and people from all sorts of building trades. 
  • Asset management, including strategic asset management, facilities management, procurement, and contract management. 
  • Tenancy and property management. 
  • Tenant support and case management, community development and tenant engagement. 
  • Business support professions such as human resources, finance, and business management professionals. 


Although these professionals have skills that are also valued in the private housing sector or the social welfare sector, and many social and affordable housing workers have worked in these sectors in their careers, all of them have significant new learnings that are needed to be effective in the social and affordable housing field. For example: 


  • Financial and project development professionals need to learn to navigate the very different financial environment around social and affordable housing, with the multiple sources of subsidy, and the finances of operating a housing program where rents are significantly less than market rent. 
  • Tenancy and property management professionals need to learn to operate in an environment where the needs of the tenants are the paramount concern, and where tenants experience significant disadvantage and often have experiences of life trauma. 
  • Builders and asset managers need to pay attention to the durability and sustainability of the housing over the life cycle of the property, often for tenants who may have less capacity to care for a property themselves. 
  • Workers who have come into social and affordable housing from the human services field need to learn the intricacies of tenancy management within the social field. 
  • Managers in the community housing sector need to learn to navigate the detailed architecture of the registration systems for community housing of the regulatory system that registers and oversees community housing organisations, whether that be the NRSCH or State-based systems. 
  • Given that a substantial proportion of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander households rely on social housing, both in cities and towns and in remote communities, there is a special obligation for workers in this sector to be culturally competent. This applies to both the Indigenous-controlled sector and the mainstream housing sector, and both sectors have a strong need for skilled, trained First Nations staff and for all staff to have a strong understanding of First Nations cultures. 


In addition to these general considerations, each State and Territory has its own culture and systems for managing social housing, with sets of often very detailed policies and processes which govern the sector in that jurisdiction. Some States have funded workforce development plans for the community housing sector (for instance, the Victorian Government has funded CHIA Vic to develop such a plan for their State) but workforce planning needs to be far wider than that, encompassing the national sector and professionals across government and non-government sectors. 


Given these intricacies, and the general shortage of workers nationally, there is not a ready pool of workers that can simply be ‘ready to go’ as we expand the sector. Any growth plan, whether at the level of the Government’s current plans encapsulated in the HAFF and the Social Housing Accelerator, or the more ambitious plans that will be needed to meet the scale of the problem, will require an accompanying workforce strategy. This strategy should have the following elements. 


Knowledge of the current environment 


Who is in the workforce now? How many people are there across the government and non-government sectors, what roles do they perform, what professional backgrounds do they come from and what skills do they currently possess? What is the current rate of retention and turnover of staff within the industry? We need this baseline information if we are going to do any meaningful workforce planning. 


Skills requirements 


There is a need to define the skills requirements more clearly for working in the social and affordable housing sector. There are existing VET-accredited modules for both a Certificate 4 and Associate Diploma in housing management and the Certificate 4 is currently being delivered in several jurisdictions including NSW, Victoria, and WA. There are also a range of specific training products on different skills required in the social housing system delivered by ahi: and by CHIA or Shelter in various States and Territories. These are currently delivered with minimal resources, not at all in some jurisdictions, and there is limited visibility of the skills and training provided to State and Territory Government housing staff. 


Workforce planning 


As the sector gears up for growth, we will need a clear plan for how many new workers are needed to service that growth, in what roles, how they will be recruited and what skills they will need to make them ‘ready to go’. 


Having a peak body to drive and uplift the capacity and capabilities of development not just as a training tick and flick but for career growth to engage the current and future workforce, developing a retention plan that operates across the housing professional continuum from front line, co-ordinators, middle managers to executives. 


Professional Development 


If we are planning for the long term, whether it be the ten-year horizon envisaged in the Issues Paper, or the longer term that will be needed to prime the sector and place it where it needs to be, we need to think about the workforce over this long term. How will we support people to build their careers in the sector over time, to move through roles and between organisations, to grow the next generation of leaders and to build the collegiate sense that is important in driving the delivery of the National Housing and Homelessness Plan. 


Attention to these issues will ensure that the growth agenda outlined by the Government, or the more ambitious agendas advocated by organisations in the sector, can be delivered and managed to high quality, maximising the chances of tenants receiving the best possible quality of housing, management, and support. 


Conclusion 


The ahi: supports an ambitious growth agenda for the social and affordable housing sector, regarding this as essential to meet the unmet housing needs of over 600,000 low-income Australian households. Such a growth is key to meeting other government agendas in areas such as Closing the Gap, Domestic and Family Violence and child safety.


Delivering this growth will require a skilled and committed workforce. Workforce planning is currently un-mentioned in the Issues Paper but needs to be explicitly included in any growth agenda. The professionalisation of the sector via a workforce development plan is work that the ahi: would support not just our members but for all housing sector professionals and key stakeholders, but it will take more resources than we currently have available. 


Delivering social housing needs good people who understand this sector, are passionate about the wellbeing of their tenants and can deliver high quality services across the range of tasks and leadership required for a successful and ambitious National Housing and Homelessness Plan, delivering a thriving social and affordable housing sector. 

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Recognizing the need for a sustained, locally connected workforce is crucial to addressing the diverse needs of individuals experiencing homelessness across all three phases of their journey. In its feedback on the Strategy, the ahi emphasizes the importance of focused attention on homelessness and social housing workforce planning, professional development, industry support, and the need for culturally competent workers—both paid and voluntary—who bring diversity, inclusion skills, and lived experience. Finally, the ahi urges that Principle 8, which highlights the strength and capability of the workforce, be prioritized, particularly in supporting First Nations people experiencing housing stress and homelessness, with a long-term vision extending beyond the next 10 years. Detailed response The following is more a detailed response from the ahi to the questions outlined in the consultation paper for the Strategy. SECTION 1: The Guiding Principles of the Strategy 1. What do we need to consider as we implement services and system reform guided by these principles (total 9) over the next 10 years? As we implement services and system reform guided by these principles over the next 10 years, the ahi suggests the following approaches be prioritized: Workforce planning should be a key focus in the first rolling action plan (2025-2027), with an emphasis on forecasting the ongoing skills and competency needs throughout the life of The Strategy. This will ensure the workforce is equipped to meet evolving demands. Increasing the supply of dwellings to address crisis, transition, and permanent housing needs must be matched by a parallel increase in the workforce. This includes expanding both paid employees and volunteers within social housing, community housing organizations, and Specialist Homelessness Services (SHS). A well-supported workforce is essential to ensuring the successful and sustainable delivery of outcomes envisioned by the Strategy. Skilling workers who assist First Nations people experiencing homelessness should be prioritised. This requires a culturally competent workforce at all levels to provide high-quality services and ensure that First Nations people do not experience repeated homelessness. By focusing on cultural competence, we can foster better outcomes and long-term stability for these communities. 2. Which Principle should be prioritized and why? The ahi fully supports all nine Principles, with particular emphasis on Principle 8: Workforce is Strong and Capable, as being foundational. Addressing homelessness is a person-centered solution that requires culturally competent employees and volunteers who can establish strong, supportive networks with wraparound services at the local community level. This is essential to meeting the evolving needs and remains a high priority in the First Action Plan (2025-2027). Ongoing professional development for workers is crucial to ensuring long-term success in meeting the changing social, economic, and environmental needs of those living in quality housing. It is also vital for ensuring tenants not only live well but stay connected to their communities. Supporting the workforce’s safety and wellness is key to maintaining a capable, resilient workforce, which in turn ensures the best possible quality of housing, management, and support for tenants. SECTION 2: Strategy focus areas: 1. To make homelessness rare, what should NSW prioritise for action and why? The ahi believes that adequate funding for SHS’s is essential to ensure they are properly resourced to assist individuals at risk of or in a crisis state of homelessness at the point of need. The ability to identify risks and allocate resources effectively for intake assessments and service coordination is key to early intervention and prevention. A triage system is vital for facilitating positive outcomes, aiming to make homelessness a one-off experience. The ahi also supports dedicated funding for staff training and development in this field, recognizing its importance in preventing homelessness from becoming a long-term issue. Investing in training allows for timely and appropriate interventions, helping to break the cycle of homelessness early on. 2. What opportunities and risks are there for implementing actions under this outcome? Delaying action in assisting individuals experiencing homelessness can lead to a loss of faith and hope in the NSW housing system, pushing them toward the justice system or, in the case of older people or women escaping domestic violence, even premature death. Implementing this outcome presents an opportunity to build a culturally competent, and trauma-informed workforce, a key factor to transforming lives while simultaneously increasing the supply of housing. Supporting a resilient workforce, where high job satisfaction is fostered, creates committed and effective workers who can make a lasting difference. 3. What types (s) would be most useful to measure our impact and why? A key target in the First Action Plan (2025-2027) is to reduce the number of people on the social housing waitlist during the reporting period. This measure will serve as an indicator of success and validate the effectiveness of early intervention policies in preventing homelessness. Additionally, setting targets for the number of employees and volunteers in the social housing and SHS sectors, as well as tracking turnover rates, is essential to assessing the success of building a stronger, more capable workforce. 4. To make homelessness brief, what should NSW Priorities for action & why? Domestic violence, family abuse, and coercive control are major causes of homelessness among women, with the number of homeless women and children increasing according to the latest data. Adequate funding for this vulnerable group is a top priority. Supporting these women has a profound impact on their recovery, resilience, and ability to raise their children, leading to positive generational outcomes in the long term. The rising trend of older women experiencing homelessness for the first time also requires early intervention to prevent premature death. 5. What opportunity and risks are there for implementing actions under this outcome? The continued trend of women dying as a result of domestic violence and family abuse is deeply concerning. In 2024, 14 older women aged 55 and over were killed, a distressing statistic according to the Commissioner for Domestic and Family Violence, Michaela Cronin. These women are at a higher risk of vulnerability, often with no support systems to rely on. Implementing actions under this outcome presents a crucial opportunity to save lives, reduce the number of women experiencing both domestic violence and homelessness, and help them rebuild their lives. 6. What types of target(s) would be useful for measuring our impact and why? Reducing the number of women who die as a result of domestic violence and family abuse during the First Action Plan (2025-2027) is an important metric to track and report, demonstrating the efficacy of The Strategy. Individual success stories are powerful testimonies that show the goals of the Strategy are benefiting both individuals and the housing system. The skills required for employees and volunteers in this area demand dedicated funding and training resources. Implementing a measure to evaluate the outcomes of training courses would be valuable, helping to refine and improve the content and application of these programs. 7. To ensure homelessness is not repeated, what should NSW prioritize for action and why? First Nations people are overrepresented in experiencing homelessness and face significant challenges in breaking the cycle. Priority should be given to this group under the Housing First Principle, supported by skilled and capable staff and volunteers, to empower them and prevent repeat homelessness. Rental tenancy laws in NSW should be reviewed, particularly regarding the cessation of tenancy due to prolonged absences. Cultural customs related to death and bereavement (Sorry Business) should be recognised as acceptable reasons for absences and incorporated into tenancy policies. 8. What opportunities and risks are there in implementing actions under this outcome? The risk of not achieving the goals outlined in the National Agreement on Closing the Gap for the NSW Government is significant if priority is not given to properly housing and supporting First Nations people. There are valuable opportunities in collaborating with Aboriginal leaders through a co-design, co-evaluation, and co-delivery approach. Their collective commitment to improving the lives of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people can lead to positive outcomes in housing, health, education, employment, justice, safety, and inclusion. 9. What types of target(s) would be most useful to measure the impact and why? Increase the number of Aboriginal workers with certified qualifications across various areas of the Aboriginal housing sector. Aboriginal tenants depend on highly qualified and culturally competent workers and volunteers to help build their resilience and prevent repeated homelessness. Regular customer satisfaction surveys should be conducted to measure tenants’ satisfaction levels and identify areas of strength and improvement. Conclusion The ahi supports an ambitious supply growth program throughout the life of the Strategy to address homelessness in NSW. With 63,260 households (based on 2023-2024 data) currently on the waiting list, it is crucial to reduce this number over the next 10 years through the rolling action plans. Successfully delivering the Strategy will require a skilled, trauma-informed, and competent workforce to implement an integrated housing system. While workforce planning is mentioned as one of the nine principles, its lack of detailed planning is concerning. The ahi strongly suggests that the principles of co-design, co-evaluation, and co-delivery be incorporated from the outset in developing the rolling action plans. The ahi thanks the NSW Government for the opportunity to submit feedback and for its ongoing consideration of building a strong and capable workforce that is recognised and supported by a broad range of industries. The value of including people with lived experience and their unique knowledge and skills cannot be overlooked as an essential voice in this transformative process. Contact NSW Branch Committee - Australasian Housing Institute admin@housinginstitute.org www.theahi.com.au (02) 6494 7566 Date submitted: 11/2/25 Submitted to: Homelessness.strategy@homes.nsw.gov.au
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