Update to High Cost Community Support Payments (HCCSP)
The High Cost Community Support Payment (HCCSP) project has been renamed to the Sustainability and Investment Initiative (SII). Renaming phase two of the HCCSP project to the SII reflects a focus on providing sustainable subsidy to the Aboriginal Community Housing ACHP sector.
HCCSP funding and contracts will continue to be rolled out as previously tested in the HCCCP pilot with the sector. The SII project adds the opportunity for further consultation with the sector to review data collection tools and methods and consider future subsidy policy. In exploring future subsidy policy with the sector, AHO will prioritise tenant outcomes and regional needs. The SII will focus on supporting best practice in tenancy and asset management, performance strengths, data analysis and ACHP reporting. By improving data collection methods and tools, the initiative will be able to determine a best-practice benchmarking approach to support good provider performance.
Changes to support payments
In response to requests from the sector, subsidy funding will move from two payments a year to one annual payment that will commence in financial year (FY) 2024/25. Subsidy payments will transition to the HCCSP funding model in FY 2024/25 and be assessed on a portfolio basis, which as a result will see a reduction in funding in FY2024/25 and FY2025/26.
Despite the reduction in subsidy funding in this program, the AHO will continue to provide significant investment into the Sector through other grant programs, evident from an increasing grant spending to the Sector of $95.1m across 2022 and 2023, and a further estimated $115.3m across 2024 and 2025.
Upcoming engagement with ACHPs
The SII team will be assessing data collection tools and processes with a small number of HCCSP recipients in an initial pilot from June to September 2024. The team will keep participants updated during the pilot phase, share key learnings and plan further one-on-one engagements with the ACHP and peak bodies.
The AHO is committed to supporting the growth of a viable Aboriginal community housing sector, to ensure Aboriginal people have access to affordable, quality housing. We look forward to working with ACHPs to develop a revised subsidy model that supports positive outcomes for Aboriginal tenants.
More information
Webinars are being planned from September 2024 to discuss these changes and any questions providers may have. The Subsidy and Investment team will be in contact with all current HCCSP funding recipients, both managing and owning providers (as required), to discuss individual portfolio funding. To learn more:
- read the SII fact sheet about the change from HCCSP to SII
- contact the Sustainability and Investment Initiative team [email protected].
