Jason Perdriau,
Acting CEO CHIA Vic
It’s my pleasure to share CHIA Vic’s newly finalised strategic plan.
Our plan for 2022-2027 was informed by extensive consultation with our members and other stakeholders and with assistance from Social Ventures Australia, who facilitated workshops with our Board. It contains a newly adopted organisational purpose statement, which envisages a future where all Victorians have the dignity of an appropriate, secure and affordable home.
Our ten-year objective towards this vision is for Victoria to have a fairer housing system and for the community housing sector to have delivered 30,000 or more additional homes that meet the diverse needs of renters. The plan steps out a range of strategic initiatives we will prioritise over the coming years to achieve this aim.
Thank you to everyone who joined us on 9 November 2022 as we launched this plan at our AGM and co-hosted a political panel event along with the Council to Homeless Persons.
The Strategic Plan was launched by CHIA Vic Board member, Grant McNeil, who outlined how CHIA Vic will create a louder and stronger voice for the sector, develop policy positions, raise awareness of these and promote solutions to all levels of government.
We were joined by the Minister for Housing, The Hon. Danny Pearson, Shadow Housing Minister, Mr. Richard Riordan and Greens Leader Dr. Samantha Ratnam who each outlined their parties policy positions and proposed approaches to providing more homes for renters, and combating homelessness.
We called on each political party to commit to a plan for a clear and reliable pipeline of investment into social housing and invited the incoming government to partner with our sector on a range of initiatives to grow the supply of social housing, beyond the big housing build. All three speakers acknowledged the housing challenges that confront Victoria, and emphasised that this is a problem that can’t be fixed by government alone, and requires the assistance of and partnership with the community housing sector. As the state election fast approaches, and with the state’s housing crisis continuing to be a key issue, we will continue to push for the firm commitments needed from our political leaders to invest in the social infrastructure that we know is required to ensure all Victorians have the dignity of an appropriate, secure and affordable home.
Our state election platform outlines specific actions to address our communities housing needs, including calls for a new investment fund to help provide a clear, long-term funding pipeline for growing social housing over the next ten years, as well as: giving councils the ability to require developers to make contributions to social and affordable housing when issuing planning permits; investing in three key interventions to help prevent and end homelessness; creating a legacy of diverse housing developments at the four Commonwealth Games Athletes’ Villages; and auditing under-utilised government-owned land to improve housing affordability in regional Victoria.
Finally, I’m also happy to be able to share our Annual Report and auditor’s report for the year ending 30 June 2022. The was presented and approved by members at yesterday’s AGM with CHIA Vic Board Member, Chris Karagiannis sharing the report and expressing the Board’s pleasure with CHIA Vic’s financial performance and achievements over the past financial year, and ambitions for the years ahead.
