1. Housing and Homelessness Sector Briefing
Tim Pallas
Treasurer
Martin Foley
Minister for Housing, Disability and Ageing
23 February 2017

2. A policy to respond to Victoria’s needs
Key drivers
Vulnerable and disadvantaged Victorians’ first and primary need is to access stable housing.
Diverse client needs demand a diverse range of housing and support options. To do this we need to engage with a broad network of partner organisations.
We need to ensure the right interventions are targeted to the right people, and that we prioritise those in greatest need.
Social housing industry needs a robust policy framework, growth opportunities, capacity development and strategic investment.

3. A policy to respond to Victoria’s needs
Key policy
A broader range of housing assistance tools, not just deep subsidy public housing.
A multi-provider model for the delivery of new housing developments and services.
Developing an affordable housing industry through financial products, durable subsidies, clear social outcomes and increasing the stock of community housing.

4. $2.1 billion to support social housing
$1 billion Social Housing Growth Fund
$1 billion loan guarantee program
$100 million revolving loan facility
$3 million to support management transfers

5. On top of an investment of $626 million for social housing and homelessness so far
$185m Public Housing Renewal
$152m Family Violence Housing Blitz
$120m Social Housing Pipeline
$109m Homelessness Support
$33m Private Rental Assistance
$10m Rooming house upgrades
$9.8m Towards Home rough sleeping program
$5.5m Victorian Property Fund grant for social housing
$1.6m Winter Rough Sleeping Response

6. Victorian Social Housing Growth Fund
A $1 billion Social Housing Growth Fund, delivering up to 2,200 homes
Ongoing funding to increase Victoria’s supply of social and affordable housing - provides a long term, permanent source of capital to provide ongoing funding through investment returns.
Made up of two programs:
Construction of new social and affordable housing dwellings on non-Government land
A rental subsidy program where agencies head lease existing residential properties
The Fund will be set up progressively by the Victorian Government over four years. It will support up to 2,200 new social dwellings (both rental and newly constructed).
The final level of new housing and the balance of support provided between two programs will be determined through the market process and according to need.
Industry stakeholders will be consulted over the coming months to design the fund.

7. Community housing financial capacity building
Australian first $1 billion loan guarantee program and $100 million revolving loan facility for low-interest loans for registered housing associations
It will:
Attract institutional investors to partner with housing associations.
Increase the financial capacity of the community housing sector.
Establish a financial environment to support the sector to raise capital, allow ease of re-financing and lower the cost of borrowing.
Be used in conjunction with other reform initiatives to increase supply and promote the capacity of the community sector in a multi-provider model.
Build on work to explore new funding mechanisms, in particular a financial intermediary to aggregate loans from housing associations on more favourable terms.
Sector partners will be engaged to establish the program prior to phased implementation from

8. Management transfers
Management transfer of 4,000 public housing properties to community housing agencies to:
improve service provision to tenants through better property management and more localised services on a long-term basis
support growth in the scale of the community housing sector
To ensure a smooth transition, one-off funding of $3 million has been allocated to set up services close to communities.
A competitive process will be used to select providers to undertake the transfer of management.

9. Victorian Housing Register
The Victorian Housing Register is the single point of entry to social housing in Victoria which:
Ensures that Victorians with the most urgent housing need are housed first.
Streamlines the way applications for long term social housing are managed in Victoria for both prospective tenants and managers of public and community housing applications.
All social housing agencies will be encouraged to play their part in housing disadvantaged Victorians. This will:
Include the ability for any priority applicant to be selected, including applicants aged over 55.
Enable continued agency-specific tenancy selection criteria that support agency missions and contribute to stable tenancies.

10. Summary
Today’s announcements build on existing funding and will achieve:
More than $2.7 billion to support social housing and tackle homelessness, the largest level of support provided by any Victorian Government.
The development of approximately 6,000 social and affordable housing dwellings, including the renewal of up to 2,500 ageing public housing dwellings.
More safe, dignified living conditions for people living in run-down rooming houses.
A financial environment that provides certainty to the sector that will result in more social housing supply and improved services to disadvantaged Victorians on a long term basis.
More people most in need of urgent housing having access to social housing and broader housing assistance tools.
An affordable housing industry that has established social goals, durable subsidies, an enabling financial environment, and growth targets that deliver more long term social and affordable housing to people in need.

11. Questions
Questions