Awarded for effort
What a haul! Over the past 12 months, Believe Housing Australia has received a heap of national recognition for its work as a leading community housing provider.
We’ve been flat out providing quality housing options to those in need, as well as tenant services and support. And we are very proud to tell you about our amazing team and the accolades they receive!
We were thrilled to be recognised nationally at the Australasian Housing Institute (AHI) Brighter Future Awards, the PowerHousing Australia (PHA) National Awards, and the Anglicare Australia National Awards.
The AHI awards recognised excellence in the housing sector and rewarded housing professionals who have made a significant and lasting impact. Individuals and teams that went above and beyond to support their colleagues and tenants during unprecedented times were showcased in the PHA awards. And the Anglicare Australia award program, recognised organisations’ outstanding services, projects and programs that positively impact the people they work with, and the wider community.
AHI Award: Response to COVID-19
Believe Housing Australia won this award for its efforts to improve tenancy wellbeing during the COVID-19 pandemic.
With 90% of our tenants living in isolation, the support we provided was significant for their mental health and wellbeing. Tenancy officers checked in regularly with tenants to ensure they were supported during pandemic isolation periods.
We launched ‘lockdown projects’ to increase engagement and wellbeing, including a quilting project where tenants designed and created their own unique quilts, group Zoom cooking classes, and a closed Facebook group where tenants could share their thoughts, feelings and interests with others.
AHI Award: Inspirational Team Member
Our Housing Options Coordinator Ali Akbarpour won the runner-up award in this category nationally for the significant part he has played in supporting refugees into housing upon arrival in South Australia.
Ali’s enthusiasm and compassion, combined with his calm and empathic nature, have enabled him to lead fellow team members and our customers through difficult situations to achieve their goals.
AHI Award: Leading Housing Development
Believe Housing Australia was also recognised in the AHI state awards, winning the Leading Housing Development Award for its Fatchen Street housing development.
The award-winning housing project involved the redevelopment of three properties in Elizabeth Grove. Two old corner-site attached homes were demolished, making way for the construction of three two-bedroom free-standing homes. All three homes are designed to exceed both Housing SA’s minimum design guidelines and the NDIS ‘Improved Liveability’ design standards, and they are SDA compliant. Well done to our brilliant Development team for their outstanding efforts.
PHA Award: Tenant Engagement and Social Inclusion Award
Our Post Care Pathways program (in partnership with the amazing AnglicareSA crew) won this award. It provides support and accommodation for young care leavers aged 18 to 25 who are experiencing homelessness or housing instability.
The award recognises an organisation that demonstrates outstanding programs contributing to tenant enrichment, encompassing social inclusion within the local community, and resulting in community development. Award recipients demonstrate innovation in practice, provide sustainable social, economic and housing outcomes for tenants, and drive community development and social inclusion, all while making a positive contribution to the community housing sector.
Anglicare Australia Excellence Award
We were also the grateful recipients of an Anglicare Australia National Award. Believe Housing Australia won for the Beyond the Housing Crisis – A Home for All research report released with UniSA earlier this year.
Many thanks to the brilliant UniSA team for their hard work on this eye-opening report that effectively highlighted the challenges of the housing crisis, the contributing factors, those most affected, and mapped a way forward to long term change.
The release of the report has been an important precursor to our Housing Solutions Cross Sector Roundtable series, the first of which was held in August and focused on Youth Housing. The second roundtable is set for November and will focus on Over 55s housing solutions.
