We’d like to congratulate two dedicated and well deserved members of the BHC team, Amy Maynard and Calvin Garrett, for their wins at the 2018 PowerHousing Australia National Awards!
Amy was recognised for her exemplary contribution to the affordable housing sector, winning the award for Outstanding Achievement. Whilst Calvin’s Rising Star Award win, exemplifies what we want in young people entering the affordable housing industry.
Congratulations to you both!
A giant 3-D art project that allows seniors to plan social outings with the click of button has won a coveted 2017 UDIA Queensland Mitchell Brandtman Award for Excellence.
Social Buttons was created for Caggara House, an award-winning apartment complex for over 55s, developed by BHC Creating Liveable Communities (previously Brisbane Housing Company) in partnership with the Queensland Department of Housing and Public Works.
The colourful project, installed in the lobby of the Mt Gravatt apartment development, features three over-sized digital buttons that light up with scrolling text when pushed, allowing residents to select from a range of social events and choose ‘where’ and ‘when’ using the buttons.
The most popular choice becomes that month’s outing and the details are automatically texted to residents’ phones.
Read full media statement here
An innovative affordable housing development that was built above the Northern Busway tunnel has won a coveted 2017 UDIA Queensland Mitchell Brandtman Award for Excellence.
The striking three-story Spectrum development, unveiled in July, is the product of a unique partnership between leading affordable housing provider BHC Creating Liveable Communities and respected not-for-profits Communify and MS Queensland.
Spectrum features 60 units which accommodate a range of tenants including: people with disabilities, low income earners and private and commercial renters.
The brainchild of BHC, the Lutwyche Road development won the UDIA affordable housing category, the judges praising the project’s engineering complexity, cost-effective mixed-tenure model, and strong architectural presence.
The Spectrum development is now in the running for the 2018 UDIA National Awards for Excellence.
Read full media statement here
BHC is pleased to announce the appointment of our new CEO, Mr Stuart Lummis. Mr Lummis will take over from CEO David Cant, who has led BHC since its inception in 2002.
Stuart Lummis was previously Director of Building, Planning Facilities and Property with the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Brisbane and is a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.
BHC Independent Chair Eloise Atkinson said Mr Lummis was an exceptional leader, who’s strong combination of not-for-profit and commercial sector knowledge would provide fresh vision for the company.
BHC CEO, David Cant will join in the fight against homelessness at the annual Vinnies CEO Sleepout® on Thursday 22 June.
More than 105,000 Australians experience homelessness every night — 27 per cent are children, and 23 per cent are faced with the situation due to domestic and family violence.
David will join 200 other business, government and community leaders at the Sleepout® to experience firsthand what it can be like to be homeless; sleeping in Captain Burke Park under Brisbane’s Story Bridge.
Join the fight against homelessness and help us get to the $5000 target by donating at: https://www.ceosleepout.org.au/ceos/qld-ceos/david-cant/
After surveying over 150 seniors in Logan, BHC in partnership with Churches of Christ in Queensland and working with University of Queensland researchers, launched The Logan Research Project with Housing and Public Works Queensland Government.
The Logan Research Project provides insight on whether current housing and support services were meeting the needs of seniors in Logan and how they can be better met in the future.
To read the report in full, visit the link below:
Read media statement here: Logan research reveals seniors’ housing needs
One of the leading lights of Brisbane’s affordable housing industry will step down in August having delivered more than 1600 new affordable homes to low-income households over 15 years.
Inaugural BHC CEO David Cant will leave a legacy of vision and collaboration that saw him move away from reliance on government funding and develop innovative investment channels, such as partnerships with other charities and the combination of affordable housing and private sales in one development.
This allowed BHC to be a genuinely independent provider that was both a commercially minded organisation and driven by the need for delivering affordable housing to people priced out of an increasingly unaffordable Brisbane rental market.
At the outset and as a start-up organisation, BHC had no housing and at its 15th anniversary has sold 300 homes into the market, has built and manages 1300 apartments for affordable rental and manages 250 properties under the NRAS investment scheme.
Along the way, the not-for-profit won multiple national and international awards for its services, architectural design and commitment to putting a roof over the head of Brisbane’s most vulnerable citizens.
Mr Cant said whilst he was still passionate about what BHC does, after 15 years he felt the it was time for a new CEO to lead the company into its next phase.
“The need for affordable housing in Australia and Queensland is huge and, particularly with the upcoming State Government’s housing strategy, I hope we are entering a new era,” Mr Cant said.
“I strongly feel that now is the time for BHC to inject a fresh, long-term leader who will take on those challenges, help drive the public conversation and steer our approach for BHC’s second 15 years of growth.
“BHC is exceptionally well placed with a talented board of directors, a strong leadership team and skilled, dedicated staff. So it is an exciting time for a new leader to build on what myself and my colleagues have achieved and deliver more sustainable affordable housing for the city of Brisbane.”
Mr Cant arrived in Brisbane after a distinguished career in the United Kingdom’s affordable housing industry, with the Queensland Government recruiting his vast experience to build BHC from the ground up.
He quickly built a reputation as an industry leader, advocating across all levels of government for infrastructure for social and affordable housing. He was also member of the Prime Minister’s Council on Homelessness, which advised the Rudd Government on measures to tackle one of the nation’s most pressing issues.
Mr Cant said BHC’s Caggara House development in Mt Gravatt East was among his crowning achievements.
The purpose-built complex provides high-quality units for seniors that previously lived in underoccupied public housing and was recognised with awards from both the Urban Development Institute of Australia and the Australian Institute of Architects.
“Caggara house not only provided a new life for seniors struggling to maintain large public housing, but also freed up these houses for growing Queensland families desperate for larger properties,” Mr Cant said.
“It was one of the first Queensland developments built to tackle this issue of public housing underoccupancy and provided a template for how not-for-profit housing providers could work closely with the State Government and deliver projects with huge social benefits.”
BHC Independent Chair Eloise Atkinson praised Mr Cant’s legacy.
“Throughout David’s career at BHC he has provided exceptional leadership driven by an overwhelming desire to ensure the people of Brisbane have access to safe, secure housing,” Ms Atkinson said.
“Whilst driving the organisation to create new affordable dwellings, David has never lost sight of the importance of providing vulnerable Queenslanders with a safe place to live. A home that allows individuals to reach their potential.”
BHC is currently undergoing a rigorous CEO recruitment process and will announce Mr Cant’s successor at a later date.
Tuesday night, BHC was proud to be the recipient of two AHI, QLD Professional Excellence in Housing Awards.
BHC accepted the Leading Community Engagement Practice Award for the Caggara House Social Buttons project which saw tenants and creative designers at Inkahoots work together to develop the interactive instalment which utilises technology to promote and organise social interactions; building community.
BHC was also thrilled to receive the Tenant Led Initiative Award for The Green Square Art Project, led by long term tenant Gerard Bargo. On the night we were proud to have Gerard in attendance to accept the award and speak about his art group, which stands as a safe and inclusive space to promote creativity, community and social inclusion.
BHC has won a coveted Urban Development Institute of Australia (UDIA) QLD Award for Excellence for Affordable Housing for their redevelopment of a former Blue Care retirement village into a thriving inner-city for over 55’s community.
Bowen Court in New Farm has been a blessing for its 51 residents, many of whom would have been forced to move from the popular suburb due to rising rents.
The 1960s building was given an $11 million-dollar facelift thanks to a 2013 Development Agreement between BHC and Queensland’s leading not-for-profit aged care and retirement living service provider, Blue Care.
Bowen Court’s open-living style apartments, attractive communal areas, high-tech security and mobility scooter charging stations were key factors in securing the award, BHC’s second in a row after last year’s win with the popular Caggara House seniors’ development in Mount Gravatt.
The strategy provides a summary of the key elements of the Tenant Engagement Strategy including our vision, our commitment, our major goals and how we will evaluate our success with this work.
Our Tenant Engagement work commenced in August 2014 and we will work progressively toward achieving our goals over a three year period.
Click here to download the BHC Tenant Engagement Strategy
Click here to download the BHC Tenant Engagement Goals 2014-2017
