I recently spoke at the launch of Brisbane’s City Council’s ‘A City for Everyone: Inclusive Brisbane’.   The plan outlines the Council’s commitment to ensuring that Brisbane is a place ‘where everyone feels like they belong’, a vision I strongly support.

In my address, I shared the story of Joe, a BHC resident whose story shows so clearly not only the value of inclusive design in affordable housing, but also the importance of a city that is ready to welcome its residents to participate fully in all aspects of city life.
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Last night we celebrated the first birthday of Elevate Residential, BHC’s fully licensed not for profit real estate agency. We are extremely proud of the Elevate team and the business they have built over the last year. Offering Brisbane property owners the very best property management and sales services, Elevate has one big difference to mainstream real estate agencies- 100% of its profits are given to BHC to help us deliver more homes and better outcomes for people in housing need across Brisbane.

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I recently spoke at the AHURI National Housing Conference in Darwin. My co-panellists and I were invited to discuss the question “Can CHPs deliver our Social and Affordable Housing Future?”

This is a critical question given the recent AHURI research findings that by 2036, Australia will be facing an unmet need of 727,300 social and affordable housing dwellings.

My response to this question was, and still is, “Yes, emphatically they can”. To me, there are five key elements that would position CHPs to lead this charge: (more…)

Under the NDIS, Specialist Disability Accommodation (SDA) funding is forecast to assist 28,000 Australians with their specialist housing needs by the time the scheme is fully rolled out in 2020. SDA has been specifically developed for individuals who live with extreme functional impairment or very high support needs, and this cohort represents just 6% of those who will access the NDIS. SDA has, rightfully so, been widely celebrated and welcomed by the disability and housing sectors as a desperately needed program. This is true despite a series of early implementation speed bumps and policy positions throwing a blanket over the confidence of both providers and participants seeking to enter the SDA marketplace. Reassuringly, these are issues which seem closer to being resolved as the scheme continues its roll out.

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On Tuesday the 2^nd of April, Federal Treasurer Josh Frydenberg handed down a budget that I had hoped I would be describing after the event as encouraging, or even catalysing, action to increase Australia’s supply of affordable and social housing. Unfortunately this was not that budget.

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In Australia, around 500,000 families live in housing stress each week. They do without necessities and make choices every day about what they or their kids will need to forego just in order to pay the rent and make ends meet. Even worse, 100,000 people sleep rough each night without shelter, a bed, or a simple door to close to give them sanctuary. These statistics are dire, particularly when you think about the country we live in – Australia, we are rich and we are resourceful. Surely these issues – this housing crisis – is something we can solve, not just simply manage.

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