Affordable Housing on Everybody's Agenda

Housing Plus has been invited to speak at the 2018 Affordable Housing Conference about its experience as a Community Housing Provider who is also involved in the delivery of services to people experiencing homelessness.

We are one of only a small number of Community Housing Providers in NSW who has evolved from being a property-focused social housing provider to a person-centred service provider supporting people with complex needs. We will be sharing our learnings with an audience of housing and homelessness professionals from the private, not for profit and government sectors, in a session entitled ‘Intersection between Community Housing Providers and Specialist Homelessness Services’.

The 2018 Affordable Housing Conference will take place at the Sydney Masonic Centre between 27 and 28 June 2018. The 2018 conference theme is ‘Everybody’s Home’, which highlights the current and growing shortfall of accessible and affordable housing in Australia across the entire housing continuum.

The conference will provide another opportunity to advocate for more affordable housing options for people on very low to moderate incomes. It will also provide a platform to discuss the ground breaking new pilot program, Unpack for Good™, pioneered by Community Sector Banking, Housing Plus and Haven; Home, Safe in Victoria.

Launched earlier this month, Unpack for Good™ is the first program of its kind in Australia and will enable people living in community housing to purchase their own home. Under the pilot, residents will be able to co-own their home with their community housing provider. Sharing ownership lowers the cost of purchasing the home for residents, meaning they can buy a home that would otherwise be unaffordable. The remainder of the property’s cost is made up by a regular Community Sector Banking home loan.

David Fisher, CEO of Housing Plus, says, “We’re delighted to be piloting Unpack for Good, which aims to create much needed opportunities for those unable to realise the great dream of home ownership due to escalating house prices. This new pilot program will also demonstrate a new way to free up community housing stock for those in greater need.”