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Accolades honour State’s social housing initiatives

The 2017 Australasian Housing Institute’s (AHI) WA Professional Excellence in Housing Awards was held last night at the Flour Factory in Perth.

The awards recognise the housing professionals who have made a significant and lasting difference to tenants, clients, the community, and their profession.

The winner of the Leading Community Engagement Practice award is the Transitional Housing Program, developed by the Department of Communities with the Kimberley Development Commission.

Community Housing Limited, the Wunan Foundation, Nirrumbuk Environmental Health and Services, and Centacare Kimberley are also key partners.

The program provides stable, affordable housing and support services for eligible Aboriginal people. It aims to build the capacity of participants to achieve self-sufficiency, financial security, household stability and ultimately home ownership.

The Transitional Housing Program utilises housing as a platform to improve employment and educational outcomes, and facilitates intergenerational change.

100 per cent of the participating households in Broome had at least one adult in employment, and school attendance rates were at 96 per cent.

The Department of Communities’s Assisted Rental Pathways Pilot shared the award for Leading Innovation.

Under the pilot, the Department of Communities joined four community services organisations, Centrecare; Salvation Army; Outcare; and Multicultural Services of WA, to trial an innovative form of assistance to support 200 social housing tenants and applicants to transition to private rentals.

Participants receive a tiered rental subsidy and individualised assistance to build their personal capacity, financial capacity and self-sufficiency in the private housing market.

The Foyer Oxford complex won the Excellence in Social Housing award. Foyer Oxford was developed by the Department of Communities, Anglicare WA, Foundation Housing and North Metropolitan TAFE.

Foyer Oxford brings together a range of partners from government, the community sector and industry to deliver a holistic response to youth homelessness.

The AHI is the professional association representing workers and volunteers in Australia and New Zealand’s multi-disciplinary social housing industry.


Source: Government of Western Australia.