Community Housing Limited is an innovative and best practice community housing organisation that assists people in need with access to affordable and sustainable rental housing. Based in Melbourne, CHL is a national organisation that provides housing services associated with transitional and permanent tenancies.
The organisation opened its doors in 1994 when it employed Steve Bevington, its first employee and now Managing Director. Steve has led the organisation to tremendous growth, with CHL becoming the first community housing organisation in Australia to operate nationally and internationally.
As an organisation, CHL has been one of the driving forces in developing a non-government affordable housing sector in Australia since the early 90s. The acceptance of community housing as highly regarded housing option was confirmed in the 2007 Victorian state budget announcement in which funding for community housing has risen from $60m over the last four years to $300m for the next four years.
Internationally, CHL has opened an office in Dili, East Timor and Chile in South America. In May 2007, CHL completed its first major housing project there in cooperation with the Timorese government. This was a self-funded project to demonstrate CHL’s capability to develop a social housing program in the country.
From humble beginnings, Community Housing Limited has become a major provider of three housing services. They are:
Long term housing management.
CHL is experiencing strong growth in the number of properties and tenancies it manages in the social housing sector, recently breaking through the 1000 house mark for properties currently under management. The growth in this part of CHL’s business is accelerating rapidly due to the Federal and State funds flowing into the affordable housing sector. Tenants pay rent on an income adjusted basis, which is usually around 75% of the market rate.
CHL is the only community housing organisation in Australia to have an in-house Architecture and Construction division. CHL has gained a reputation as a commercial builder, completing more than 40 projects since 2002. CHL employs more than 150 subcontractors for projects spread across the eastern seaboard. Architecture and Construction is delivered for properties that the organisation ultimately manages.
Transitional and Crisis housing services
CHL provides housing advice to people in housing crisis who need to find temporary accommodation before moving to a more permanent housing arrangement.
CHL supplies a series of small grants from its ‘Housing Establishment Fund’ (HEF) that is used to help individuals and families in housing crisis situations pay for rent-in-advance, overnight accommodation, assistance with rent in arrears, removal expenses, and overnight accommodation.
CHL manages 409 houses occupied by 539 households in crisis for periods of on average six months whilst they are stabilising their lives and seeking longterm accommodation.
CHL provides long-term secure rental tenancies for people at less than 75% of the market rate. People who have low incomes with little immediate prospect of improvement can find a dependable housing arrangement so their children can attend the local school, the parent or parents can maintain employment or study, and generally have enough to live on which isn’t always the case for many in the private rental sector,” says Bevington.
One of the keys to Community Housing Limited’s national success is that projects are developed with local community partners, who are motivated to meet the needs of the disadvantaged in their community and are staunch advocates when seeking support from local councils and government.
The second key aspect of creating highly functional community housing is that if future tenants require special needs services, CHL first negotiates the involvement of these support agencies before entering into an on-going housing management agreement.
Community Housing Limited is also innovative in its affordable housing approach. At a recent development in East Gippsland, CHL is working with the local aboriginal cooperative (local partner organisation) to rehabilitate a site with 25 houses, and at the same time employed some of the residents in administrative roles or created several traineeships for young adults during construction. Further, CHL is examining the feasibility of creating a furniture making business in this community with the education and training assistance of Gippsland TAFE.
By working with local communities to create sustainable and affordable housing, CHL believes that as a result, these communities retain a greater diversity of people, all of whom contribute to creating a richer community experience.
“Our experience over the last 12 years is that by creating stability through housing, we’ve seen many individuals able to concentrate on study, find work, and support their families. This allows lower-income households to function much better, and that benefits the larger community and economy,” says Bevington.
Bevington believes the organisation’s greatest asset is the shared values amongst the staff of creating positive sustainable changes to the health of the community and to the lives of those in need.
“We have built an organisational culture based on investment in our collective commitment to the goals of the organisation. This is reflected by strong staff retention which in turn allows us to develop our skills and experience in community engagement and development,” he says.
Community Housing Limited has grown tremendously since its inception. In 1993, the organisation received a $63,000 government grant to operate. In 2007-08, revenue exceeded $39m with strong future growth predicted.
Besides its work with various communities throughout Australia, Community Housing Limited has created a new venture in East Timor. The organisation has an office in Dili, and is actively working with the government to create a national housing program. The vast majority of East Timorese are still living without basic amenities.
“CHL has successfully completed its first project, and is already working with the government on a number of public building projects,” says Bevington. “The challenge is also one of priorities. The government is struggling to fund its own administration, and after that attending to basic health, education, and the provision of utilities. Some people do not always see the link between basic housing and amenities and issues like public health, disease control, and mortality rates.”