housing registrar report 2012–2013 housing registrar report 2012–2013 Department of Treasury and Finance This work is licensed under a Creative Copyright queries may be directed to contents 1 Treasury Place Commons Attribution 3.0 Australia licence. [email protected] Melbourne Victoria 3002 You are free to re use the work under that ISSN 2200-3312 The Housing Registrar Housing Australia licence, on the condition that you credit the Published April 2014 Telephone: +61 3 9651 5111 State of Victoria (Department of Treasury Our mission 1 Spotlighting individual projects 38 Facsimile: +61 3 9651 5298 and Finance) as author and comply with If you would like to receive this publication www.dtf.vic.gov.au other licence terms. The licence does not in an accessible format please telephone Our vision 1 Tenants apply to any images, photographs or 9651 1402 or email Authorised by the Victorian Government branding, including the Victorian Coat of [email protected] Four key objectives 1 Profi le of tenancies and tenants 48 1 Treasury Place, Melbourne, 3002 Arms, the Victorian Government logo and the Print managed by Finsbury Green This document is also available in PDF format Message from the Registrar 2 What tenants say 50 Department of Treasury and Finance logo. 9/124 Exhibition Street, Melbourne Vic 3000 at www.housingregistrar.vic.gov.au The year in review 3 Stakeholders 53 Printed on recycled paper. Photographs by Ponch Hawkes, others © State of Victoria 2014 supplied by registered agencies and used Our projects 6 The future 57 with permission Complaints management 8 With thanks 61 Our team 10 The registered sector The registered sector as at 30 June 2013 14 Spotlight on a newly registered agency 15 Milestones for registered agencies 16 Snapshot of the sector 21 Financial data 24 Summary fi nancial statements 26 Innovation in the sector 29 our mission four key objectives To protect social housing assets and ensure quality services to tenants by regulating well governed, well > ensure that all housing agencies are viable, managed, financially viable rental housing agencies. well governed and properly managed; > protect and ensure accountable use of government assets managed by the our vision affordable housing sector; > build confidence in the private sector to invest in and grow affordable housing; and A robust, vibrant regulated housing sector that grows > ensure quality and continuous affordable housing for the Victorian community. improvement in service delivery and outcomes for tenants. The regulatory framework supports and promotes best practice while identifying and addressing poor performance. the housing registrar 1 message from the registrar Once again I am pleased to welcome you It has also been satisfying to see the Association’s Ashwood Chadstone Gateway to our sixth annual report. And again it implementation of various recommendations Project that created almost 300 community highlights the continued growth of the sector of our Better Regulation… Less Burden and private homes. This highlights that the and the success of housing associations and project. Using risk to guide regulation now community housing sector is always willing housing providers. There are now 18 583 and into the future, validating the data we to go the extra mile and is a credit to all its affordable homes across Victoria, owned and get from the sector, and making sure we members. managed by registered agencies and with a know about significant events will make sure I would like to thank the Housing Registrar combined value of $2.54 billion. The sector we can do our job better – and reduce the team for its hard work and dedication over also employs around 1300 people. burden on smaller and well run agencies. the year, our colleagues in DHS and the Over the year the Housing Registrar has We have achieved a lot since our formation in members of the Registrar’s Advisory Panel made a significant contribution to the 2006, from establishing a registration system whose independent advice is invaluable. development of a national regulatory system. to the ongoing monitoring of more than 40 I am sure you join me in looking forward to We have been able to use and build on good agencies. This year has seen this regulation another productive year. practice in Victoria, such as our approach to become more focused as we carried out our financial analysis which forms the basis of the first formal inspection and also issued formal Yours sincerely national approach. This work will continue as instructions. These actions have shown that Anthony Hardy the national system develops. the regulatory framework as a whole works well and delivers results. I continue to be both surprised and amazed at the good work of the sector in improving people’s lives and in many cases transforming them. It may be a little thing like the desk that Common Equity Housing Limited’s education fund bought for a tenant who is a mature-aged student, to Port Phillip Housing 2 the housing registrar the year in review Sector engagement The Housing Registrar continued to attend Building internal capability the annual general meetings (AGM) of One of the initiatives of our 2011-12 review of agencies, analysed two collections of agency Housing Registrar staff attended the communications was a bi-annual regulatory reporting submitted at the end of August Australian Housing and Urban Research practice forum with registered agencies. We and 28 days after AGMs, and completed Institute’s (AHURI) National Housing held forums in November 2012 and May 2013 annual reviews of agency compliance and Conference in Brisbane in October 2012 which at the Jasper Hotel in Melbourne. performance. broadened our knowledge and understanding of current issues in the housing sector. More than 50 people attended the forums to Annual review reports were completed and hear updates on regulatory activity including; presented to 40 registered agencies. In June 2013 the Victorian Managed Insurance Agency (VMIA) delivered targeted risk > changes to regulatory processes, management training for our staff. It took reporting, templates, and our business Sector profiling and analysis the team through the VMIA risk management system REGIS; We completed our fourth annual sector approach and the risk maturity model. > projects we are undertaking; performance report for the 2011-12 financial Additional targeted training will continue to year. This edition was published on our be developed throughout 2013-14. > analysis of sector performance and the website and provided a host of valuable outcomes of annual reviews of individual We introduced guidance for better record information on the profile and performance agencies; and keeping to ensure we are documenting of the registered housing sector. Copies relevant information which is then easily > areas of concern for the Housing Registrar of this report and previous reports can retrievable. and the sector. be found on our website at http://www. housingregistrar.vic.gov.au/Publications-and- In November 2012 we attended a An added feature of the forum was the guides/Sector-Performance-Report presentation by the President Elect of the Registrar’s Quiz which tested participants Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors across an eclectic range of topics. and Chief Executive of Broadland Housing Again in response to sector feedback we set Association in England, Michael Newey, to up a quarterly eNewsletter EQUIP which was hear the latest news on social housing and launched in October 2012. Copies of the three regulation in England. editions for the year and a link to subscribe to future editions can be found on our website at http://www.housingregistrar.vic.gov.au/ News-and-events/Newsletter the housing registrar 3 There were several changes for our online We welcomed Emma Iacobaccio who came Achieving national consistency business system REGIS, including: back from maternity leave in January 2013, but said goodbye to Caroline Neske who went Our participation in the development of the > hosting of the production and user testing on maternity leave in April 2013. National Regulatory System for Community environments transferred from Fujitsu to Housing (NRSCH) was extensive and Eye Media; After seven years with the Housing Registrar sustained. We were active member of the Mark Hamilton-Smith moved to a new role > technical support now provided by Dialog National Working Group and the Registrars with the Freedom of Information team within Information Technology; Forum and played a major role in creating the the Department of Treasury and Finance. many foundations of the NRSCH including > a development environment established From January to April 2013, Jean Saunders the evidence guidelines for demonstrating in the Department of Treasury and Finance joined us to bolster our administrative compliance with the National Regulatory (DTF); and resources for a short but busy period. Code, charter, tier guidelines, enforcement > improvements in the record keeping of guidelines, regulatory framework, financial We had great fun taking part in the Global agency contacts. reporting and non-financial reporting Corporate Challenge from May to September requirements, online business system CHRIS, Housing Registrar financial analyst, Kai 2013. Seven team members formed the and associated parties guidance. Chong, completed his Chartered Accounting Victorious Housing Registrars to reduce our certification during the year, and is now waistlines and promote healthier lifestyles. a qualified member of the Chartered Our team walked 8 243 kilometres, topped Accountants Institute of Australia. All three the Department of Treasury and Finance members of our Financial Analysis team are (DTF) teams, and ranked in the top 10% now fully qualified accountants. globally. After six years with the team, we said goodbye to our Executive Assistant Julie Tirpkos in January 2013 who moved to a new role within the Department of Treasury and Finance. 4 the housing registrar Contact with other stakeholders > Registrar Anthony Hardy spoke at the Australasian Housing Institute’s (AHI) workshop on reform of social housing, in New Zealand.