Products and services for people in community housing

Port Jackson Inner City Supported Housing Program

Homes NSW has developed a new program providing supported housing in the inner Sydney area. This program is the Port Jackson Inner-City Supported Housing Program. The project is for people with high support needs that cannot be met through 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
• people vulnerable to homelessness.

Programs and grants

St. George Community Housing manages the properties under this program. It also manages the 21 support services endorsed in its role of support partners to the program.

The Community and Private Market Housing Directorate administers a wide range of programs. These programs increase the resources available for community housing across NSW.

The main programs are listed here.

Community Housing Assistance Program (CHAP) 

This program provides the capital component of general accommodation for:

• general community housing
• supported community housing.

Community Housing Leasing Program (CHLP) 

This program provides subsidies to CHPs so they can headlease properties from the private rental market. This helps provide more affordable long-term housing.

Crisis Accommodation Program (CAP) 

This program helps people who are homeless, or at risk of becoming homeless and in crisis. Properties are:

1. purchased
2. headleased 
3. renovated or upgraded
4. allocated to non-government organisations to manage.

Supported Accommodation Assistance Program (SAAP)

Homes NSW funds support services through the SAAP.

‘My Place’ Homelessness Initiative

This program helps homeless people move off the street or out of crisis accommodation. They can move into a place where they can live independently. It provides secure long-term accommodation linked to support services.

Port Jackson Supported Housing Program (PJSHP) 

This program provides supported housing. This housing is for people who are otherwise unable to maintain a tenancy. 

Social Housing Subsidy Program (SHSP)

This program is a mixed-income model of housing support. It is for tenants with very low, low and moderate incomes. It consists of 255 properties. Homes NSW acquired these properties using a 20-year interest-only loan. This loan was through the Commonwealth and State governments.

Long Term Leasehold Program (LTLP) 

This program provides subsidies to community housing organisations. These subsidies allow them to headlease properties from the private rental market long-term.

Partnerships In Community Housing (PICH) 

This program promotes cost-effective partnerships with not-for-profit organisations. These can include:

• religious
• charitable
• non-government
• local government organisations.

Boarding house relocation program (BHP)

This program provides capital properties and leasing subsidies to housing and support organisations.

Housing and Accommodation Support Initiative (HASI)

This program provides community-based accommodation. In this accommodation, each client lives in his or her own home. The provision of individual support makes a tenancy sustainable. HASI is a joint initiative between Homes NSW and the Centre for Mental Health.

Private market housing services

Private market housing services are also available. These services help people who are eligible for community housing rent privately. Some of these products include the Bond Extra program, My Place and Rentstart.

Port Jackson Supported Housing Program

The Port Jackson Supported Housing Program (PJSHP) provides stable, secure and sustainable tenancies. These are for people who need extra support and are unable to maintain a tenancy. The program is a partnership between:

• registered support agencies
• the community housing provider
• the tenant.

The program:

• provides supported housing to identified priority groups. These are people who are most at risk of homelessness. They are going to need medium to high levels of support to have a successful tenancy.
• provides housing in the inner-city Local Government areas of:
  • Ashfield
  • Botany
  • City of Sydney
  • Leichhardt
  • Marrickville
  • Randwick
  • Waverley.
• improves linkages between housing and support services for the delivery of supported housing;
• provides appropriate housing and support services to respond to community needs. This includes through partnerships with community-based organisations
• helps develop best-practice standards for the community-based supported housing management sector. This focuses on improved outcomes for tenants.

Target groups

Priority groups include, but are not restricted to:

• a person or a household who needs ongoing support to maintain their tenancy. These are people who are eligible for priority housing assistance.
• a person with complex support needs who is unable to maintain their tenancy without support services
• single people who are homeless or at risk of homelessness. These are people who need ongoing support to maintain their tenancy. This targets
  • people with a disability
  • people with a mental health issue
  • people with a substance abuse disorder
  • people with a dual diagnosis
  • people with other challenges.
  • households at risk of homelessness if supported housing is not provided
  • people who have difficulty in sustaining their tenancy. This can be in the private sector or social housing rental market. These people have a particular specific housing need and a support package.

General rent policy

All properties are rented at a market rent, listed in the lease signed by the tenant. Tenants are expected to pay 25% or 30% of their gross income in rent payments. This does not include Commonwealth Rent Assistance. The difference between the rent paid by the tenant and the market rent is used to determine the amount of the rent subsidy.

Tenants also pay 100% of their Commonwealth Rent Assistance as rent.

Tenancy management requirements - Intensive Supported Tenancy Management

The Port Jackson Supported Housing Program developed the Intensive Supported Tenancy Management model. This strategy helps tenants have successful tenancies.  

Staffing

Highly-skilled specialists staff the Port Jackson Supported Housing Program. These specialists work in close partnership with tenants’ support providers. The program has more housing workers per property than mainstream properties. This is a result of the Intensive Supported Tenancy Management model.