I am pleased to present the Housing Registrar’s Regulatory Update Report 2021–221.
This year the Housing Registrar delivered the Corporate Plan 2020–22 and published our Corporate Plan 2022–24, guided by three priorities of organisational excellence, better regulation and strong partnerships and engagement.
We focused our resources on streamlining processes and procedures to create efficiencies, becoming more targeted and risk-based, and improving the transparency and accountability of the regulatory system. This regulatory reform work reflects our commitment to delivering growth, capability building and continuous improvement in the community housing sector (the sector) that improves outcomes for current tenants and those many households on the Victorian Housing Register (VHR) awaiting housing allocation.
Under the Victorian regulatory system, the Housing Registrar assesses every registered agency against performance standards on an annual basis irrespective of size and scale to monitor performance and drive continuous improvement in the sector. We publicly report on outcomes of annual compliance assessments, including detailed performance information for every registered agency, and have the most transparent regulatory arrangements for community housing in Australia. These features of the regulatory system aim to deliver accountability, transparency and capacity building as well as giving tenants visibility over their landlord’s performance to encourage tenant participation.
In 2020–21, we delivered a range of reform projects to improve the efficiency and design of our compliance processes and systems to better target risks. These improvements have enabled us to publish performance information significantly earlier than previous years, in efforts to achieve best practice transparency – which we will continue to work on in coming years and refine.
In 2021–22, the sector actively participated in growth and development opportunities as part of the Victorian Government’s $5.3 billion Big Housing Build. To facilitate this growth, the Housing Registrar’s newly established Registrations and Sector Growth team undertook a comprehensive review of registration and compliance processes including the functionality of the systems that support them. This project was supported by funding from the Regulatory Reform Incentive Fund which will deliver efficiencies and savings for registered agencies and for new entrants participating in the system through more efficient and streamlined processes to drive economic activity.
In 2021–22, we registered four providers: Evolve Housing Vic Ltd, MCM Housing Limited, Assemble x HCA HA Ltd and BlueCHPV Limited. This is the most significant growth in sector size, from 40 to 43 providers, since 2009–10, which continues to add to the diversity and value proposition of the sector.2 We are continuing to work closely with the Aboriginal housing sector to support registration of Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisations as part of the Homes for Aboriginal Victorians round.
The Big Housing Build will deliver significant growth in community housing over the next three years. Given this investment by government and the large construction pipeline, the Registrar must focus resources on ensuring the ongoing financial viability of the sector and enhance our intelligence to support more targeted regulatory activities. In 2021–22, we made changes to the financial information we collect from registered agencies to improve the quality, relevance and accuracy of financial data whilst reducing reporting burden on the sector. This project was accompanied by training delivered to the sector.
To support this unprecedented growth and funding in community housing, the Victorian Government commissioned an independent review of the Victorian regulatory system for social housing and final report provided to Ministers on 31 May 2022. Government will consider the review’s findings over the coming year. The review’s findings will pave the way for a significant reform journey for the social housing system in Victoria over the coming years.
On 7 July 2022, the Victorian Ombudsman tabled its report, Investigation into complaint handling in the Victorian social housing sector, which made recommendations for the Housing Registrar and government. This report highlighted some of the inconsistent practices in the sector and opportunities for creating consistency and promoting better complaints management.
The Housing Registrar will be producing best practice guidance and a model policy in 2022–23 working in collaboration with the Community Housing Industry Association Victoria (CHIA Vic). In 2021–22, we received 114 complaints and enquiries in relation to registered agencies. The main subject areas of these enquiries were:
- 30.7% tenancy management
- 25.4% neighbourhood disturbance
- 15.8% property maintenance
- 12.3% customer service
- 9.6% rent.
As part of our commitment to continuous improvement, we assess our own performance on an annual basis using a range of evidence sources, including sector surveys. We are grateful for receiving responses from all 42 registered agencies surveyed (100%) which was highly valuable for this self-assessment and for setting our forward work plan.3 The results of these surveys and how they are being incorporated into our workplan are set out in this report.
On behalf of the Office of the Housing Registrar, thank you for your engagement and we look forward to working closely with the sector in 2022–23.
David Schreuder
Director, Housing Registrar
Registrar of Housing Agencies
Footnotes
1. The Sector Performance Report 2020–21 is published separately and contains detailed analysis of sector performance for the 2020–21 financial year from regulatory reporting received in 2021–22. Information on the Housing Registrar’s financial results is reported as part of financial statements in the Department of Treasury and Finance’s Annual Report.
2. One registered housing provider voluntarily de-registered in 2021–22 for a net growth of three registered agencies.
3. One registered agency was not sent the survey as it indicated its intention to merge with another registered agency and seek de-registration in 2022–23.
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