• Total housing capacity grew by 5.1% to 22,253 units.
• Almost 30% of housing assets were in regional Victoria.
• We registered four new community housing organisations in 2021-22.
• Rent arrears for long-term housing were 1.8% of rent charged.
• The occupancy rate for long-term properties was 96%.
• 85% of complaints were resolved within 30 days.

During 2021-22, four new community housing organisations were registered and one housing provider was voluntarily deregistered after merging with another registered agency.

New registrations

Organisations must satisfy the registration requirements in the Act to obtain registration in Victoria. These requirements include that the applicant must be a non-profit body and be established for the purpose of delivering affordable rental housing to people on low incomes.

The Registrar registered four new housing providers in 2021-22:

• Evolve Housing (Vic) Limited: Registered on 20 December 2021, Evolve Housing (Vic) Limited is a wholly owned subsidiary of Evolve Housing Limited, a Tier-1 Community Housing Provider under the National Regulatory System for Community Housing. It plans to develop and operate social and key worker affordable housing.
• MCM Housing Limited: Registered on 22 December 2021, MCM Housing Limited is a wholly owned subsidiary of Melbourne City Mission (MCM). It provides long-term affordable housing for young people with wraparound support services provided by MCM.
• Assemble X HCA HA Ltd: Registered on 18 March 2022, Assemble X HCA HA Ltd is a special purpose vehicle set up through a joint venture partnership between Assemble and Housing Choices Australia. It intends to provide a mixed tenure of social and private housing properties.
• BlueCHPV Limited: Registered on 30 March 2022, BlueCHPV Limited is a subsidiary of BlueCHP, a Tier 1 Community Housing Provider under the National Regulatory System for Community Housing. It intends to develop social and affordable housing for households on low-to-moderate incomes experiencing housing stress, including key workers, seniors and those at risk of homelessness.

Acknowledging government’s commitments to improve housing outcomes for Aboriginal Victorians and the challenges often faced by Aboriginal housing providers, looking forward, the Registrar will continue to work closely with Homes Victoria and Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisations (ACCOs) to facilitate and support the growth of the Victorian Aboriginal community housing sector.

Mergers and deregistrations

SouthEast Housing Co-operative Ltd (SouthEast) merged with Eastern Suburbs Rental Housing Cooperative Ltd (ESRHC) in January 2022. SouthEast retained its trading name and ESRHC was deregistered in June 2022. The merger intends to create efficiency, improve housing outcomes for members and better achieve housing growth for Victorians in need.

South Port Community Housing Group Inc (SPCHG) merged with Prahran/Malvern Community Housing Inc in June 2022. The new associated incorporation retained SPCHG’s name and was registered on 13 July 2022. The merger intends to create efficiency, increase support to vulnerable cohorts of low-income singles and provide greater opportunities for staff.

The registered sector as at 30 June 2022

Under the Act, the Registrar can categorise a registered agency as a housing association or a housing provider based on the level of regulatory risk associated with a registered agency’s operations, including the size of a registered agency, its plan for growth at scale and the complexity of its operations.

Housing associations are assessed as having an increased level of risk due to the scale and scope of their operations and are generally larger, more complex registered agencies, whereas housing providers are assessed as having a lower level of risk within their operations and range in size from smaller to medium-sized registered agencies.

Housing associations

• Aboriginal Housing Victoria Limited
• Common Equity Housing Ltd
• Community Housing (Vic) Ltd
• Housing Choices Australia Ltd
• Loddon Mallee Housing Services Ltd
• (trading as Haven; Home, Safe)
• HousingFirst Ltd
• Rural Housing Network Ltd (trading as BeyondHousing)
• Wintringham Housing Ltd
• Women’s Housing Ltd
• Unison Housing Ltd

Housing providers

• Assemble x HCA HA Ltd
• Baptcare Affordable Housing Ltd
• BAYSA Ltd (trading as Barwon Youth)
• BlueCHPV Limited
• Building Communities (Vic) Limited
• CatholicCare Victoria Housing Limited¹
• EACH Housing Ltd
• Eastcoast Housing
• Evolve Housing Vic Ltd
• Inner East Social Housing Group Ltd
• Launch Housing Ltd
• Mallee Accommodation and Support Program Ltd
• MCM Housing Limited
• Mission Australia Housing (Victoria)
• National Affordable Housing Consortium – Vic Ltd
• Northcote Rental Housing Co‑operative Ltd
• Northern Geelong Rental Housing Co‑operative Ltd
• Prahran/Malvern Community Housing Inc²
• Salvation Army Housing (Victoria)
• Servants Community Housing Ltd
• South Port Community Housing Group Inc
• SouthEast Housing Co‑operative Ltd³
• St Kilda Community Housing Ltd
• Sunshine/St Albans Rental Housing Co‑operative Ltd
• The Haven Foundation Ltd
• United Housing Co‑operative Ltd
• Uniting Housing (Victoria) Ltd (trading as Uniting Housing)
• VincentCare Community Housing
• WAYSS Ltd
• West Turk Housing and Elderly Services Co‑operative Ltd
• Williamstown Rental Housing Co‑operative Ltd
• Women's Property Initiatives Ltd
• YWCA Housing

Footnotes

1. Centacare Housing Services changed its name to CatholicCare Victoria Housing Limited on 27 July 2022.
2. The merger between Prahran/Malvern Community Housing Inc and South Port Community Housing Group Inc (SPCHG) was approved by Special General Meetings of both organisations on 22 June 2022. The new associated incorporation (retaining South Port Community Housing Group Inc name) was registered on 13 July 2022.
3. SouthEast Housing Co-operative Ltd merged with Eastern Suburbs Rental Housing Cooperative Ltd (ESRHC) in January 2022 and retained its trading name. ESRHC was deregistered in June 2022.

The sector managed 22,253 rental units, including both long-term and short-term accommodation such as transitional and crisis housing.

Housing associations owned or managed 70.7 per cent of the total housing stock compared to housing providers who owned or managed 29.3 per cent.

Community housing units grew by 5.1 per cent in 2021-22, following an annual average increase of 2 per cent over the previous four financial years. The majority of the growth in 2021-22 was attributed to the increase in units managed on behalf of the Director of Housing (DoH) and other parties, as well as head leased¹ to provide supported accommodation to people experiencing homelessness housed in hotels during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The growth in the 2021-22 period is broadly consistent across registered agency types, with housing capacity increasing by 5.5 per cent for housing associations and 4.3 per cent for housing providers. Housing associations owned the majority of their housing portfolio (67.1 per cent). Housing providers owned less (13 per cent) and mostly managed housing stock on behalf of the DoH and third parties.

The majority of tenancy units owned or managed by the sector (77 per cent) was long-term housing, including rooming houses and specialist disability accommodation (SDA). Transitional housing, which provides shorter term accommodation, comprised 21 per cent and crisis housing made up the remaining 1 per cent.

During the 2021-22 period, the fastest growing housing type was transitional housing, increasing by 14.9 per cent to 4,653 units. Rooming houses grew by 5.8 per cent to 1,877 units and other long-term housing grew by 3.4 per cent to 15,163 tenancies.

The From Homelessness to a Home (H2H) and Homes for Families (H4F) programs were the leading drivers for these increases. These programs provided stable housing for tenants at risk of homelessness in emergency accommodation due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

Most community housing assets (70.2 per cent) were concentrated in metropolitan areas with 15,623 housing units across all housing types located within Greater Melbourne. The remainder (29.8 per cent or 6,630 housing units) are in regional local government areas (LGAs).

Regional LGAs continue to benefit from ongoing sector development initiatives with 31.9 per cent of net growth during the reporting period being delivered in regional and rural Victoria.

Footnotes

1. Head leasing is where a private rental property is rented from the landlord/owner by a legal entity, such as a community housing provider or a government agency, which then on lets the property to a low income or disadvantaged tenant.

KPMs are used to monitor registered agencies against performance standards and inform regulatory engagement with registered agencies throughout the year. Aggregate KPM results reflect trends across the sector.

The 2021-22 Performance Reports, containing each registered agency’s KPM outcomes, are available on the Public Register(opens in a new window).

Sector operations

The number of staff employed by the sector, including support workforce, increased by 138 (up 8.5 per cent). The majority of this growth was within housing providers. The increase in the number of staff is consistent with housing growth, increased tenancies and delivery of new programs and services. In 2021-22, this included Big Housing Build activities and various housing programs supporting women and others at-risk of homelessness (notably the H2H program).

Overall, the ratio of 12.6 homes per staff member¹ was largely consistent with the previous year. There remained a marked difference between agency types; housing associations averaged 19.2 homes per staff member, compared to 6.9 for housing providers.

Staff turnover

Staff turnover across the registered sector in 2021-22 was 24.7 per cent. This has increased from 19.7 per cent in 2020-21 but remains in the satisfactory range. The increased turnover rate has resulted from organisational restructures and COVID-19 impacts.

Turnaround time

Turnaround time is a measure of the average number of days taken to re-let a tenancy unit, either when it is ready for a tenant to move in (vacant tenantable) or when it requires significant cleaning or maintenance prior to tenanting (vacant untenantable). Turnaround time is an indicator of efficiency. Reducing turnaround times enables new tenants to be housed faster and maximises registered agencies’ rental revenue.

In 2021-22, the average vacant tenantable turnaround time was 25.2 days, consistent with the 2020-21 rate of 25.1 days. Sector results have remained in the action required range for the last two financial years, reflecting the ongoing impacts of COVID-19 public health measures. Registered agencies managing rooming houses and other high-density accommodation experienced greater impacts, as they delayed re-tenanting vacant units to allow for greater social distancing at properties with shared facilities. Some registered agencies also reported difficulty re-tenanting vacant rooms in rooming houses as prospective tenants were reluctant to move into properties with shared facilities.

In 2021-22, the average vacant untenantable turnaround time was 39.6 days. This is a 12.4 per cent improvement on the 2020-21 average of 45.3 days and is in the satisfactory range.

Occupancy rate

The occupancy rate reflects the percentage of occupied tenancy units against available capacity². Similar to turnaround time, the occupancy rate measures the efficiency of registered agencies in ensuring that a property is tenanted to its full capacity and rental revenue is maximised.

In 2021-22, the occupancy rate declined slightly to 95.9 per cent, reflecting continued COVID-19 measures impacting higher density accommodation.

Tenant specific performance

Rent outstanding

Rent outstanding measures the amount of rent that is overdue (rent arrears) to a registered agency at 30 June 2022 as a percentage of total rent charged in 2021-22. This indicates a registered agency’s performance in appropriately managing rents and providing support for tenants facing payment difficulties. As rent revenue is a major source of income for most registered agencies, this measure has a direct impact on financial viability.

The average rent outstanding from current tenants was 1.84 per cent. This is a slight increase from the previous year (1.48 per cent) but remains in the satisfactory range.

Tenancies maintained

Tenancies maintained measures the percentage of long-term housing tenants that have remained housed with a registered agency for the entire reporting year³. This is an indicator of a registered agency’s effectiveness in sustaining tenancies and minimising evictions.

The 2021-22 tenancies maintained rate decreased slightly (to 87.3 per cent) but remains in the satisfactory range. The decrease is mostly attributed to a higher tenant turnover in rooming houses.

Complaints

The sector recorded 411 complaints from tenants and prospective tenants in 2021-22, representing approximately two per cent of the number of tenancies under management.

Table 1: Total number of complaints received by registered agencies from tenants or prospective tenants

Registered agencies are required by the Act to have accessible and efficient complaints systems in place. They must also demonstrate a positive complaints management culture and take all reasonable steps to resolve complaints from tenants and prospective tenants within 30 days.

The majority of complaints (85.2 per cent) lodged by tenants and prospective tenants in 2021-22 were resolved within 30 days. This was a reduction from the previous year (93.5 per cent) but remains in the satisfactory range.

The median of complaints resolved within 30 days was 91.3%. Some registered agencies reported that they kept complaint cases open whilst awaiting VCAT hearings which experienced increased backlogs during the period, contributing to the long complaint resolution time.

Most fully operational registered agencies (all but two) recorded at least an 80 per cent resolution rate for tenant and prospective tenant complaints, with the majority reporting rates in the 90 to 100 per cent range.⁴ Ten fully operational registered agencies reported no tenant and prospective tenant complaints in the reporting period.

Tenant and prospective tenant complaints are proportionately concentrated within larger registered agencies. Complaint data showed 70.3 per cent of the complaints were received by Housing Associations who managed about 70 per cent of homes.

Evictions

The rate of evictions⁵ measures evictions as a proportion of tenancy exits from community housing.

The 2021-22 eviction rate was 4.1 per cent and remains in the satisfactory range (below 5 per cent). The slight increase from the previous year reflects the end of government’s temporary COVID-19 measures. Significant rental arrears and non-compliance with agreed payment plans were reported to be the leading factors that led to evictions.

Repairs

The Registrar monitors repairs to ensure responsive maintenance is completed by registered agencies within timeframes required under the Residential Tenancies Act 1997 (RTA).

Under the RTA, urgent repairs are to be completed as soon as possible. Many registered agencies set a timeline for urgent repairs to be undertaken within 24 hours of being notified.

In 2021-22 tenants requested 11,995 urgent repairs of which 91.6 per cent were actioned on time. This is a slight decrease from the previous year (95.2 per cent) but remains in the satisfactory range. Registered agencies cited difficulties with arranging tradespeople and tenants in a COVID-19 restricted environment and material supply shortage as main reasons for delays.

Non-urgent repairs are expected to be completed within 14 days under the RTA. Tenants requested 30,189 non-urgent repairs in 2021-22 of which 87.3 per cent were actioned on time. This result remains largely consistent with previous years and within the satisfactory range.

Tenant survey results

Registered agencies are required to conduct tenant surveys at least every two years. The surveys must include the following questions with a standard response scale to ensure data are comparable across the sector:

• Taking everything into account, how satisfied or dissatisfied are you with the services provided by [registered agency]?
• How satisfied or dissatisfied are you that your views are being taken into account by [registered agency]?
• Generally, how satisfied or dissatisfied are you with the way [registered agency] deals with repairs and maintenance?

Survey results provide insights into tenants’ needs and potential areas for service improvement.

In 2021-22, twenty registered agencies surveyed 8,454 tenants. Thirty-nine per cent of those tenants responded. The Registrar will continue to work with registered agencies to improve the participation rate of future tenant surveys.

Tenant satisfaction – housing services

Tenant satisfaction rates in housing services have been consistent over the previous four years with approximately 85 per cent of tenants surveyed indicating that they were satisfied with the housing services provided.

The 2021-22 survey results indicate a drop in the housing services satisfaction rate to 77.4 per cent which is just above the action required range. Registered agencies noted the continued limitation of face-to-face interaction with tenants and other COVID-19 measures on these results.

Tenant satisfaction – consideration of views

Tenant satisfaction for registered agencies’ consideration of tenants’ views have dropped to 66 per cent in 2021-22. It is noted that housing providers have outperformed on this measure compared to the overall sector, recording an average 86.5 per cent satisfaction rate.

Registered agencies reported that the lack of regular face-to-face contact with tenants due to COVID-19 measures contributed to lower results. Several registered agencies have advised they are developing new systems and strategies to ensure that tenant voices are better considered when planning and delivering housing services. The Housing Registrar will closely monitor this area to ensure that there is improvement in the KPM in future.

Tenant satisfaction – maintenance

Tenant satisfaction for maintenance provided by registered agencies was recorded at 67.4 per cent for 2021-22, a substantial decline compared to pre-pandemic periods. Consistent with the previous two years, the effects of COVID-19 measures on the completion of repair requests have significantly impacted tenant satisfaction for this KPM.

It is expected this measure will improve over the coming years with the easing of COVID-19 measures, allowing non-urgent maintenance activities to resume. However, it is acknowledged that ongoing global supply chain disruptions and other long-term implications of COVID-19 such as labour shortages and maintenance backlogs might continue to have unfavourable impacts on this measure.

Housing providers have outperformed on this measure compared to the overall sector, recording an average 84.2 per cent satisfaction rate.

Footnotes

1. The number of staff members used in the calculation of this ratio included support workforce.
2. There are no performance ranges for the average occupancy rate as this measure is derived from data provided for the turnaround time KPM.
3. Tenancies maintained data includes voluntary exits and deceased tenants during the reporting period.
4. Fully operational registered agencies exclude newly registered agencies without any tenants in the reporting period.
5. Evictions are defined under this KPM as ‘a warrant of possession is issued (purchase of warrant) and the tenancy is subsequently terminated’.