Ms Thomson has considerable senior leadership experience, a proven capacity to work and deliver outcomes in complex and challenging environments and an impressive track record of high-level stakeholder engagement on a state, national and international level.

“The role of the Church broadly and faith-based organisations is an important one in our society, and it is important that strong partnerships with government see the sector deliver safe and secure housing as a basic human right.

The significance of a secure place to live for human dignity, physical and mental health, and overall quality of life is at the heart of the work Churches Housing Inc. does with its Members in partnership with the NSW government to provide social and affordable housing in our State – I look forward to contributing further to this important work.” said Ms Thomson.

Churches Housing Incorporated’s board chair, Rob Burnelek, welcomes the appointment of Ms Thomson. “The church has a long history of working with the vulnerable in our society and in recent years we have witnessed a significant amount of new supply in the social and affordable housing sector.  Under Ms Thomson’s leadership, we look forward to further deepening and developing the relationship with our Members and the NSW government – with the goal of providing safe, secure and affordable housing for all”

Ms Thomson has worked in senior executive roles in the higher education sector for 16 years culminating as Director of External Relations at the University of Newcastle. She is a lead consultant with O’Neill Advisory, helped establish the Institute of Civil Infrastructure for the peak body, the Civil Contractor’s Federation, and has led engagement work at The King’s School.

She holds an undergraduate degree in Training and Organisational Development from Edith Cowan University, a Master of Leadership majoring in Change Leadership from the University of New England and has attended the Harvard Business School Leadership Program.

Ms Thomson commenced in the role on Monday 10 May 2021.

Churches Housing Inc response to the Federal Budget 2021-22.

Churches Housing recognises that the Federal Government has made significant and worthy commitments across a range of sectors, but an opportunity for national leadership was missed in the Federal Budget last evening.

Of note is the contribution to Aged Care which supports an aging population to remain in their home for required care, but an issue of concern is for the elderly that do not have a home or are suffering housing insecurity in the current compromised rental market.

There is considerable new support for the services needed in our communities related to mental health and suicide, the provision of training and employment support to drive jobs and skills, childcare, and new initiatives for first home owners and single parents, and these matters are important to building a strong economy and supporting our citizens.

But right in the middle of it, is a disclaimer of the need to add social and affordable housing to the infrastructure projects, that would be a significant contributor to the mental health, and the hope for resilient citizens that can transform futures alongside the capability and skill building.

While the matter of housing is typically managed at the State level, the rising housing disaster post pandemic (job losses, housing losses and increased domestic violence), post fires, post floods and out-of-control markets have blitzed the basic housing needs and dreams of many Australians.

Australia must add this basic human right as a central tenant to the way we build our future. We cannot wait for vulnerable aging women, families escaping domestic violence, and those in crisis post pandemic, floods and fires to escalate into homelessness.

The flow-on impact to philanthropic organisations trying to help the safety, security, education and health of Australian children, women and families, creates massive challenges for the ongoing provision of support across Church and Community organisations who work everyday to make the lives of vulnerable Australians more secure.

With the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948, the right to adequate housing joined the body of international, universally applicable, and universally accepted human rights law. Accordingly, adequate housing is universally viewed as one of the most basic human needs. The significance of a secure place to live for human dignity, physical and mental health, and overall quality of life is at the heart of healthy and resilient communities.

We are not a socialist country but we must work to narrow the gap. We want to remain the lucky country, and we could lead the way in innovative approaches to address the housing issues for the increasing number of disadvantaged citizens – not set them off to one side, as this will see a rapidly increasing downward spiral in the wellbeing of too many Australians.

Churches Housing Inc. is the peak body representing the many wonderful faith-based organisations – from Anglicare through to Wesley Mission – church denominations, philanthropists and individuals who work to provide housing for so many in our communities.

Now more than ever is the time for critical partnerships between government both Federal and State to offer affordable housing – a National Strategy and plan would be a great start!  

Rose Thomson  CEO

Church land should be released to build more ‘truly affordable’ homes, according to the Archbishops of Canterbury and York in the United Kingdom.

The archbishops’ report, Coming Home, sets out vital actions for the Church, Government and others to build better communities and more truly affordable homes, not just houses. 

Coming Home’s recommendations include:

1. Homes on church land that align with five core housing values: sustainable, safe, stable, sociable and satisfying
2. Church land holdings are reviewed to deliver more truly affordable homes
3. Church Commissioners release strategic land for many more affordable homes
4. Clergy and lay activists are offered training on how to engage on housing matters
5. Local church community work shifts from crisis interventions to prevention

About 8 million people in England are living in overcrowded, unaffordable or unsuitable housing, according to the National Housing Federation.

Coming Home calls for a 20-year strategy to increase the supply of truly affordable homes, backed by a substantial increase in public capital investment and a phased reduction in the price of land. As part of this call for action, Bishop Guli Francis-Dehqani has been appointed as Bishop for Housing. See the full report: https://www.archbishopofcanterbury.org/priorities/coming-home

In Churches Housing’s pre-Budget submission, we invited the NSW Government to consider our proposal for 2021-22, A just housing recovery program.

This program aims to help people to keep their jobs in those parts of the NSW housing construction industry just starting to be ravaged by the impacts of the COVID pandemic.

Critically, it will also provide an ongoing legacy for families and other households who find themselves in desperate housing need.

We believe the solution can be linked to meeting another pressing problem – that of the NSW 50,000 social housing waiting list where most of its households languish for over 10 years waiting to be housed.

First, we are proposing a SAHF Phase 3, building on the past achievements of the previous funding rounds where the successful proponents usually contributed land that was then matched by a government subsidy stream linked to improved client outcomes

Second, Just housing involves urban renewal on parcels of existing social housing land that is rezoned and ripe for redevelopment. Proponents would commit to rehousing public housing tenants; and provide an increased amount of affordable and social housing.

Read the submission below…

https://churcheshousing.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Churches-Housing-pre-Budget-submission.pdf

Churches Housing is working with members to track our contribution to building more social and affordable housing. This work will be updated each quarter.

Very early results are in from six members, with a total of 3,436. That figure breaks into:

Completed	1914
Under construction	784
Planned	733
TOTAL	3,436

For completed dwellings (1,914), funding is overwhelmingly (71%) from the NSW State Government’s Social and Affordable Housing Fund (SAHF).

For dwellings under construction (784), the funding source is again mostly SAHF (83%).

And, for planned dwellings (733), the story is the same: 98% are to be SAHF-funded.

In NSW’s southern highlands, volunteers with Habitat for Humanity have helped re-build the home of Justin, Helena and Gabriel destroyed in the devastating bushfires of 2019-20.

Helena said, ‘My wish is to regenerate this land. Already I can see the diversity in the flora and fauna has changed since the fires. I am very excited for what’s possible here, but I mourn for what was before.

‘Habitat for Humanity offers something that no-one else does – the help of the community has overcome our feelings of being overwhelmed and abandoned.

‘The psychological impact of seeing paths and new plants is enormous. We work from sunrise to sunset, but there’s only so much we can do ourselves. The volunteers cut short what would have taken us months.’

Justin, Helena and Gabriel very narrowly escaped as their house was destroyed, along with 40 others in a village that had 140 homes only.

When the family reached the fire evacuation centre, there was eerie quiet inside, but swirling winds and smoke outside. They then couch surfed from friend to friend before renting a granny flat. Weeks passed as the family’s resilience saw them through the hardest moments.

Habitat for Humanity’s chair, Paul Mulroney, said the volunteer program will run for months due to donations from around Australia.

As a long-time member of Churches Housing, Habitat for Humanity works through volunteers, house building and church partnerships.

‘We run a small home-building program working with families experiencing housing affordability stress. Families partner with us in building their home and receive an interest-free, 20-30 year loan based on 100 per cent of the market value of the completed home.

‘Partner families contribute 500 hours of their own time in the planning and construction phases – this is called sweat-equity and is recognised in the 5 per cent discount on market value that we return to them.

‘Through our model, we use the partner family loan repayments to build more homes for in-need families.’

Habitat for Humanity New South Wales actively seeks partnerships with local churches to help them disadvantaged families in their communities access housing solutions.

Partnering with New South Wales Government, Uniting’s affordable housing program is much more than just bricks and mortar and is designed to promote a sense of safety, security, community and opportunity.

With 340 homes already delivered, Uniting’s affordable housing program continues to grow, having added 60 homes to its affordable housing options. Uniting continues to try and meet the high demand for accommodation services for women over the age of 55, the fastest growing cohort of homelessness in New South Wales.

Providing a range of housing types including dwellings in existing retirement villages, new developments and in stand-alone affordable housing projects, Uniting has recently delivered two new options in Westmead and Hawkesbury.

Set close to shops, transport and medical amenities, the new Westmead campus provides 14 new dwellings to the affordable housing market.

In conjunction with the delivery of Westmead, the development in Hawkesbury was ready in November and fully tenanted before Christmas, adding six more dwellings to Uniting’s affordable housing program.

Hawkesbury is close to picturesque Pughs Lagoon and is minutes from local shops, health services and Richmond train station. It also Includes ‘ageing in place’ touches such as wider entry ways, lift accessibility for easy access, and has been designed to capture natural ventilation in addition to creating an atmosphere of visual and acoustic privacy.

While Uniting is pleased with progress, more work remains this year, the most ambitious for delivery. Sn additional 200 affordable homes are slated for January 2022, to continue Uniting’s philosophy of providing opportunity for seniors through secure housing options to assist them.

Wesley Community Housing tenants have been working with the Royal Botanic Gardens Community Greening Program to build sensory gardens in Wesley’s Specialist Disability Accommodation properties.

In collaboration with Darren from the Royal Botanic Gardens Community Greening Program, Wesley Community Housing tenants built planter boxes and benches under trees for residents to use.

Wesley Community Housing tenants had the opportunity to learn or improve on some basic skills about horticulture, landscaping and construction. One tenant, Sok, said: Ït’s good to get out and about for a good cause.’

Collaboration, community and connection remain fundamental to meaningful projects for all at Wesley Community Housing. During the pandemic that has heightened people’s sense of isolation, creating spaces and events for connection have never been more important.

Tenant Richard, who volunteered his time to work on the project said: ‘So many people have been affected [by COVID] … it makes you think about what we need to do. Supporting each other is the most important note.’
Residents continue to enjoy the use of this new garden and Wesley Community Housing hopes to keep revitalising its outdoor spaces with the great work of Wesley Community Housing tenants.

Almost 30 people have moved into Anglicare Sydney’s Greenridge development in Corrimal, a northern suburb of Wollongong.

Completed late last year, the social and affordable housing apartments will be home to 28 women.

General Manager – Housing, Rob Burnelek, said he “welcomed the partnership with the NSW government which enabled this development to proceed. In addition to the safe, secure affordable accommodation, we also help in creating a new community. It is also important that Anglicare partners with our local churches, to further enrich the community and provide additional connections.’

Corrimal Anglican Church’s minister, Dave Esdale, said: ‘For many years we have had a heart of the people of our area. We long to love and care for them but being a small church there is a limit to what we can do.

‘Partnering with Anglicare enables us to do way more than we otherwise could. We have been able to care for people through provided affordable food and clothing.

‘We have been able to meet some of our neighbours and make new friends. With the new housing down the road from our church (Greenridge), we would like to say that we are now even providing housing for people in our neighbourhood.

‘Sure, Anglicare built and allocated the properties, but it is better for them to do that anyway. We, however, are the friendly community up the road. We are the community that will welcome, love and care.

‘This is our part in the partnership. We are always here. We live here and Corrimal matters to us personally.

‘We feel God had placed us here to love the people He has placed around us. We want to love out of His great love for us.

‘We value greatly our partnership with Anglicare which enables us to care for our neighbours.’

Australia’s only dedicated affordable rental housing platform, WelcomeMat, is now a ‘Page 1 search result’ in a Google search for the term ‘affordable rental housing’.  A major reason is because the websites of the Department of Communities & Justice, industry peak bodies, community housing providers (CHPs) and other supporters now link to WelcomeMat www.welcomemat.com.au

WelcomeMat has also expanded beyond its initial coverage of Greater Sydney to include the Central Coast and Hunter Regions, both being areas with a critical shortage of affordable housing.

Central Coast-based Tier 1 CHP, Pacific Link, supported WelcomeMat since inception through buying listings before WelcomeMat’s go-live.

Ian Lynch, CEO of Pacific Link, said: ‘We are proud supporters of WelcomeMat, which is filling a much-needed gap in the market as a pathway for people to ascertain their eligibility, and then apply for available affordable rental properties.

‘Pacific Link’s own affordable rental properties are managed by our social enterprise real estate agent Key2 Realty (www.key2realty.com.au), in addition to other properties owned by private developers. The partnership with WelcomeMat is attractive to developers of affordable rental housing when Key2 Realty is negotiating new managements.’

The timing of WelcomeMat’s geographic expansion also fits well with the opening of Amelie Housing’s latest SAHF project at Cardiff, west of Newcastle, where 25 new affordable apartments are now listed on WelcomeMat for rent. These are in addition to the social housing component of the Cardiff project.

WelcomeMat’s co-founder and CEO, Mark Khoo, said: ‘If you know anyone who may be looking for affordable rental housing in Greater Sydney, Central Coast and Hunter regions, please refer them to www.welcomemat.com.au

‘Similarly, if your organisation has any affordable rental housing vacancy, consider signing-up as an Affordable Housing Provider on WelcomeMat and listing the property on the portal.

‘Lastly, if your organisation’s website includes a link to WelcomeMat, this may also help housing applicants who visit your website.’