The Community Housing Division works with community housing providers, the resourcing agencies and other interested stakeholders to develop products and services that meet the needs of those eligible for community housing. Some of the products developed have focused on helping clients to access private rental properties.
Tenancy Guarantees
The Tenancy Guarantee was developed by the Community Housing Division to help people who are able to manage and sustain private tenancies but are experiencing difficulties securing approval to rent. Some of the reasons for these difficulties may include a lack of rental history, a history of rental arrears. A Tenancy Guarantee is an offer to pay the landlord for arrears or property damages to a maximum value of $1,000 (incl. GST). The Tenancy Guarantee helps to assure private landlords that they will be protected if something goes wrong with the tenancy.
The Guarantees are being delivered through ten Community Housing organisations in locations across NSW.
My Place
My Place was developed by the Partnership Against Homelessness (PAH) to provide long-term supported housing for people who have been homeless for long periods of time. Tenants are given additional support services to help them make the transition from living on the street or in crisis accommodation into long-term, stable housing. The partnership involves three community housing providers and five support providers.
The community housing providers are:
1. Women’s Housing Company (WHC);
2. Marrickville Area Community Housing (MACH); and
3. South West Inner Sydney Housing (SWISH)
Private Rental Bonds
Renting privately is the best possible housing option for some people, particularly those who need to live in a particular area where there is little or no social housing. However, the cost of starting a private tenancy can be high for people on low incomes, especially if they are renting for the first time. As a consequence, Housing NSW developed Rentstart to assists households to rent privately, by giving those that are eligible some financial help at the beginning of their tenancy. Generally, Rentstart will contribute up to 75% of the cost of rental bond.
Rentstart aims to:
- assist clients establish or keep a sustainable tenancy in the private sector; and
- provide quick financial help to clients in need, particularly those facing homelessness.
Port Jackson Inner City Supported Housing Program
Housing NSW has developed a new program providing supported housing in the inner Sydney area, known as the Port Jackson Inner-City Supported Housing Program. The project is aimed at people with high support needs that cannot be meet through the existing housing services, including older people with complex needs; people living with HIV/AIDS; people living with mental illness; young people under 25 years of age; people with a disability; and people vulnerable to homelessness.
St George Community Housing manages the properties under this program and 21 support services have been endorsed as Support Partners to the program.
Community Development Resourcing Grants 2011-2013
The Community Housing Division of Housing NSW is offering up to three grants of $10,000 each (inclusive of GST) for a one-off grant to registered community housing providers. The grants will be available to registered community housing providers either individually or working in partnership with other community based organisations to support community development and tenant engagement initiatives.
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