Homes Victoria and Jobs Victoria have launched a new initiative to support jobs at scale in the social housing sector – the Social Housing Employment Program (SHEP). SHEP provides social housing residents and other priority jobseekers with entry-level sustainable employment for minimum 12 months within the social housing sector. As part of their employment, jobseekers will be provided with training, skills and wraparound support through the Program.

Uniting Vic/Tas and Qualify are leading the delivery of SHEP and are calling on community housing providers to be part of the Program.

The aim of this information session is to help members understand how they can leverage SHEP to meet their BHB social procurement requirements, and improve social outcomes more broadly. Participants will hear directly from Homes Vic who will provide an overview of SHEP, as well as SHEP project partners Quality and Uniting Vic/Tas.

The session will include presentations from:

• Tin Nguyen, Senior Policy Officer – Social Procurement and Inclusion, Homes Victoria
• Angela Dapcevic, Executive Officer– Uniting Vic/Tas and Gavin Gu, Industry Job Creation Specialist – Uniting Vic/Tas
• Donna McMahon, CEO – Qualify and Emma Waghorne, Branch Manager – Gippsland Office – Qualify

The presentations will be followed by audience Q&A.

Following the SHEP presentations and Q&A, CHIA Vic will facilitate a member discussion to seek input on outstanding social procurement challenges to identify what additional resources or other support members require assistance with.