Overview

The Build and Grow Aboriginal Community Housing Strategy was launched in February 2010 by the New South Wales Minister for Housing.

The Strategy will:

• enable Aboriginal Community Housing Providers to become more financially viable and sustainable over the long term
• enable Providers that are having problems managing their houses to have their houses managed by well performing providers
• support Aboriginal people in improving living standards for their communities.

While there are many parts to the Build and Grow Strategy, its key point is the introduction of a new registration system for Aboriginal Community Housing Providers, called the Provider Assessment and Registration System, or PARS for short.

Providers that pass the PARS and so become registered with the AHO will be eligible for operating subsidies and assistance with capacity building and business development, and will have the opportunity to manage more houses. This information is on Fact Sheet 6 (PDF, 852KB).

There are ways for Providers that do not pass the PARS or that do not want to go through PARS to be a part of the Build and Grow Strategy. This involves having their houses managed by a provider that has passed the PARS. Management will be through a head leasing agreement with the AHO. This information is on Headlease Fact Sheet (PDF, 1.9MB). The head lease document will be available soon.

All providers that participate in the Build and Grow Strategy will have backlog maintenance on their houses, up to the value of $50,000 per house, based on a scoping of their houses. This information is on Fact Sheet 6 (PDF, 852KB).

The Build and Grow Strategy also means that the AHO is changing the Housing Aboriginal Communities Program rent policy. Rents will be set in a consistent way across the sector, at a level that will help the sector be more sustainable, and allow the sector to collect Commonwealth Rent Assistance. More information is on the Rent page.

Capacity Building

Approved Providers registered with the AHO are eligible for Capacity Building and Business Development - a key initiative under the Build and Grow Aboriginal Community Housing Strategy. For more information visit the Capacity Building page.

Regional Forums

In February and March, the AHO held regional forums for Aboriginal Community Housing Providers across New South Wales. Forums were held in Wollongong, Sydney, Queanbeyan, Batemans Bay, Port Macquarie, Newcastle, Armidale, Lismore Narrabri, Broken Hill, Dubbo and Wagga Wagga. A forum that was scheduled for Bourke was cancelled due to flooding. Photos of the forums will be available here in the near future.

Questions from the forums

Many questions about the Build and Grow Strategy were asked at the forums. Answers to these questions will be available here soon.

Forum Presentations

Presentations from each of the information sessions at the forums will be available here in the near future.