New community-based research agendas for a

regional taskforce

New community-based research agendas for a

regional taskforce

Niv SrivastavaAuburn Housing Working GroupAuburn Diversity Services Inc

Agenda for this presentation/discussion?

• Auburn Housing Working Group-membership and shared responsibility

• Research ideas-moving forward-AHWG

• How good are these agendas-Research?

• What are the missing links?• Some suggestions/solutions

Auburn Housing Working Group

• Memberships:– ADSi– Local Council– ACL– STARTTS– Salvation Army– Centrelink– Shelter NSW– ADHC– DoCS

• Memberships? Enhancement?

Membership(TOR, AHWG, March 2011)

• The working group will consist of people that bear knowledge and are interested in housing and tenancy related issues, and preferably work in the service area that includes Housing.

Post Card “Idea”• A list to go on the post cards for residents of

Auburn-reflecting issues around housing e.g. Housing affordability, legal issues, safety , REAs* etc

• Promotion/Reaching out- through Networks/Council/Centrelink/organisations like ADSi, STARTTS, ACL, Bhanin/Barnardos/REAs?

• Outcomes intended-Campaign for residents-tool/evidence to address the issues and lobbying at a greater scale?

• Lacking Context? REA*-Real estate agents

How good are these agendas?

• Purpose?• Why do we feel this need

always? • Aren’t there enough studies

done at a larger scale? • Have we got some research

based findings which could be useful?

• Are we saying that we need to get some local stats to address the local issues?

• What stats are we looking for?• What is the intention behind

that potential research?

• Are we looking for some specific outcomes? Yes? Then what outcomes?

• Who will be benefitting from the research? Owners/tenants/homeless/real estate agents/service providers/peak bodies/decision makers/ministers/ or all of them?

• How do we promote the outcomes to the concerned stakeholders?

• What resources and limitations do we have?

How good are these agendas? Cont

• Questions? –Re: Network• Who will be driving the

show?• How much time and

resources can we account for in a justified way to our funding body/ auspice organisation?

• Do we have those factors integrated in our service specifications or are we actually lobbying for it to happen in future?

• Research partner with local universities/local councils – ideally- which means-’they then need to be the part of network-

• Does not happen always!?• Choice Factor and Time

factor!• How can we create time----

alternatively are the agendas attractive enough?

• Need higher level of co-ordination require delegation of responsibility and time within the network-

• Are we saying that it is someone else’s responsibility as well, though we are the ones who know the needs and are keen to find solutions at a local level?

What do we need for such projects to be successful?

• Enhancing our tools and resources?• Changing the work culture?• Collaboration with universities/councils/research based

organisations(peak bodies) in a systematic way?• Create Universal Frameworks?• Free and efficient flow of communication for addressing

the needs from grassroots level to the advocacy and influencing policy level.

• Promote the work before and after to avoid duplication?• Have a dynamic web based information sharing

system?• Training for all stakeholders to access the Information

in an interactive way on an ongoing basis?» Can we do it

Can it be done?

Missing Links---• Planning happens successfully and

enthusiastically! But…• Commitment to responsibility and ‘ a will

to convert objectives and ideas to actions very low

• Accountability for such collaborative projects is not defined

• There are no set timelines often• Members unable to deliver owing to other

responsibilities taking higher priority.

How can we make the agendas attractive?

• Outcomes based approach- Agenda to participate in Networks –on everyone’s agenda as a necessity-

• Adopting Strength to strength approach• Systemic changes-Networks to be endorsed

and supported by governments, peak bodies and academic institutions

• Sharing responsibility-service providers and service users

Reflection continues…

Source-presentation Planning @Dream or reality Forum, 2010

Source-presentation Youth Homelessness @Dream or reality Forum, 2010

Western Sydney Housing Coalition

MEDIA RELEASE 23 August 2010

Housing Forum Gives a Wake Up Call for Western Sydney

Over two hundred housing advocates meeting at the Casula Powerhouse in the week before the Federal election called on Federal and state governments to increase their financial commitment to social and affordable housing in Western Sydney.

A spokesperson for the Western Sydney Housing Coalition, Robert Costa of Affordable Community Housing, said the attendance at the forum `Dream or Reality? Affordable Housing in Western Sydney’ well exceeded expectations. It was the first major event organised by the Coalition and showed just how big an issue housing is for services and organisations supporting the Western Sydney population, he said.

Intended Outcomes• Produce a follow up report-• Identify housing related issues and

aspirations Re: refugees/migrants/homeless and affordable housing

• Prioritised Strategies- to address those issues

• Recommendations-to the minister-influence Government planning and policy?

Is the gap just the information gap?—or are the resources enough to address

the need adequately?

Are we reaching out to people and informing them?

Are people/service providers paying attention to what is

already there?

Private Rental Scheme-Tenancy Facilitation; Private Rental

Brokerage Service; Tenancy Guarantee; Rentstart (Standard, Plus, Temporary Accommodation

and Tenancy Assistance)

Housing Insecurity-6Dimensions-AHURi-ISSUE 113 May 2009 · ISSN 1445-3428

• Finding- LOWER INCOME RENTERS’ EXPERIENCES OF HOUSING INSECURITY HAVE SIX IMPORTANT DIMENSIONS. COMPOUNDED BY OTHER ASPECTS OF SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC DISADVANTAGES, THE RESULT IS SOCIAL EXCLUSION.

• Dimensions include-Financial/health/education insecurity

What can we do to address this?-stakeholders working on addressing one of those issues cannot work independent of the other issues that are unavoidable with the housing stress-?Networks-joining hands and so should the concerned government departments?The networks therefore should be recognised as fundamental structures with a significant responsibility and supported and endorsed by government bodies and local state and federal governments?How can that happen-? Or has it started happening already? Yes? Then how many of us know about it?

Rent IncentiveIf your rent is in advance at the endof each month you will automaticallyqualify to go into a draw to win a groceryvoucher to the value of $100.Congratulations to the following winnersfrom last year:---- ------------- ---------------- ---------------

Source-NEWSLETTER ST GEORGE COMMUNITY HOUSING LTD, MARCH 2011

Illustrations? Research

Consultations

Outcomes

Factsheets

Community Education

Forums

Incentives/schemes

Media releases

Government’s response

Moving forward…• Tweak the research ideas keeping

in mind the following three significant factors:– resources and services out there– intended outcomes and – our strengths and limitations

Research-building on existent resources-AHWG

• Enough research and findings available-

• Just a matter of converting that information to work for your network/stakeholders/including target communities

• ……etc

Resource collection-Research basedAHWG

• Initial idea- Housing Kit-every member to bring some resources to put in the kit-the members to discuss and modify the resources for the final housing kit. Jan 2011

• Recent development-Question-how effective will it be? Can we be more specific?

Research- Re: resource building

• Target Specific and Outcomes-oriented• How?-Research “what's there”? • Process-members share the

responsibility of researching and developing informative resource derived from accessible Fact sheets/pilot studies/research findings concerning our target groups-

Another initiative-AHWG

• Issue identified-Bridging the gap between REAs and our clients in Auburn

• Pilot study-”A Step Forward”-----as a result of network AHWGA Strength to Strength approach

Auburn Housing Working Group Minutes Date of the meeting: 17/3/11 Venue: 17, Macquarie Road, Auburn Time: 2.30pm-4.30pm

Chairperson/Facilitator: Niv Srivastava Minute taker: Niv Srivastava Minutes Distributed on :

Present:; Hassan Saleh; Shashika Peeligama ;Niv Srivastava; Justin Han ,Rein Van de Ruit Apologies: Lisa Lyndon ;Hassan Saleh; Semra Guler; Salwa Alhag Agenda Item Main points of discussion Action By whom When Acknowledgement to Country

Niv

Introductions and information share

Niv

Business arising SydWest-the pilot study on Real Estate Agents and SGP workers- Planning session –actions arising to be discussed further in this and following meetings-Housing Kit; Evidence collection; community survey-Postcard idea

Meeting held on 11/2/11 In the agenda

Niv

Next meeting-

Other -Discussion “Bridging the gap”- Shashika (Women’s Project Officer, ADSi) and Jennifer(Housing Project Officer, ADSi) -a pilot to enhance communication and understanding between Real Estate Agents and Clients with ADSi playing the part of the mediator. Logical thing to do...challenge but worth it. Building the trust... May have to rethink the name as it has been used before… Lot of novel ideas might come up...like ADSi’s ability to assist in small matters in future for making the tenancy experience more enjoyable for all three parties.

Shashika and Jennifer to keep everyone posted on the progress of the pilot- They are happy to answer any questions that New name will be given to the pilot.

Shashika and Jennifer

A Step Forward---Pilot at ADSi

• Housing Client Real Estate Agents

Case worker/Service provider ADSi

Future plans-AHWG

• Launch of the resource (housing kit?)

• Housing Forum in Auburn-highlighting local issues , best practice models and strategies

• Fact sheets from “A Step Forward” pilot.

Conclusion-Effective flow of Communication is one

of the biggest missing link…

So, are we listening to them!