Rooming Houses Womens Housing Ltd and Wombat Housing and Support - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Rooming Houses Women’s Housing Ltd and Wombat Housing and Support Services Partnership

Women's Housing Limited and Wombat Partnership 27/03/13

wombat housing and support services

Wombat Housing and Support Services

WHSS provides services to people who are homeless or at risk of becoming homeless in the West of Melbourne. Programs are provided for young people, older adults, families, single adults, people in public and community/social housing and people seeking asylum.

Women's Housing Limited and Wombat Partnership 27/03/13

Women’s Housing Ltd

Women’s Housing Limited is a registered Housing Provider. We are a state wide service. We manage:

• 108 Transitional Properties
• 96 Community Housing

Properties

• 181 Housing Provider

Framework Tenancies

• Housing Information
• Outreach to the Women’s

prison

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Rooming House Program

Women’s Housing Ltd manages Rooming Houses:

• Ascot Vale
• Berwick
• Brighton
• Mt Martha
• Sunshine

Women's Housing Limited and Wombat Partnership 27/03/13

WHL/WOMBAT partnership

Women's Housing Limited and Wombat Partnership 27/03/13

Housing Number of Rooms/Units Gender Altona Meadows 12 Mixed Gender Ascot Vale 13 Men only Footscray 10 Women only Kensington 16 Women only Sunshine 31 Men only

The Partnership

In 2008, Women’s Housing Ltd and WOMBAT entered into a partnership, where WHL agreed to fund the Community Support Program through the Community Capacity Building Fund. Wombat previously provided the tenancy management

• f the Kensington, Footscray, Ascot Vale and Sunshine

sites and these were transferred to WHL stock in 2008 as Wombat’s core business is the provision of housing support services.

Women's Housing Limited and Wombat Partnership 27/03/13

Partnership Agreement Objectives

The overall objective of this Agreement is to collaboratively:

• improve the quality and delivery of services to tenants in

the identified properties,

• enhance the nature and extent of service outputs and

service-user outcomes in close consultation with tenants

• f the identified properties, and
• ensure maintenance of existing – and improving/building
• n – high standards in Rooming Houses in terms of

amenity.

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Responsibilities

Women’s Housing Ltd:

• Property management
• Tenancy management

– Rental management – Dispute management

Women's Housing Limited and Wombat Partnership 27/03/13

WOMBAT:

• Community Development
• Sustaining Tenancies
• Short term Case

Management Support

• SAAP Singles Support

Worker

Partnership Meetings

WHL and WOMBAT meet at regular intervals so that we can assess the partnership.

• Tenancies that require additional support
• Community development program

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Rooming House Meetings

• Regular Meetings are

held with the tenants at each site.

• Staff from both WHL and

WOMBAT attend these meetings.

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Purpose of Rooming House Meetings

• Allow residents a voice
• Raise issues
• Seek input into community

developments activities

• Discuss community

development activities planned

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The Community Support Program

Aims:

• Reduce Social Isolation
• Enhance Living Skills
• Improve connectedness

between residents

• Provide social/recreational

activities

• Engage/improve access with

local services and community

• Improve Amenity

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CSP Projects

• Photography
• Art Therapy, Ceramics, Skill

Sharing

• Health and Wellbeing
• Gardening Projects
• Tenant Newsletter
• Internet Access
• Linkages to local services
• Cooking Classes &Social

Meals

• Outings & excursions

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Gardening Project

• Partnership with Matchworks Employment Services
• Provided a project for their clients who needed a Work

Experience Activity

• Matchworks contributed the co-ordinator, and job

seekers with opportunity to develop landscaping and gardening skill

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Rooming House received a Community Garden, fruit trees and landscaped outdoor area which improved the amenity of the Ridley St Rooming House

Gardening Project...

Women's Housing Limited and Wombat Partnership 27/03/13

Photography Projects

• Housing Week Grant – Portraits of

Rooming House – residents took photos of each other

• Arts Victoria – “Everyday Treasures” –

exhibition as part of Big West Festival

• Equipment/Cameras are lent to residents

to further develop their love for photography

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Photography projects

Women's Housing Limited and Wombat Partnership 27/03/13

Women's Housing Limited and Wombat Partnership 27/03/13

Outings/Excursions

• International Garden Show, Tulip

Festival

• Tim Burton and Titanic Exhibition
• Musicals Annie, Hairspray, Wicked
• Fishing Group and Charter
• AFL, Cricket, Ten Pin Bowling
• Go Carting, Movies
• Luna Park, Bellarine Peninsular,

Heidi Museum

• Peninsular Hot Springs, Maulden

Spa

• Mostly Mozart Recitals

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How do we afford these activities? GRANTS GRANTS

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Tenant Newsletter

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Tenants write articles, crosswords, recipes, movie reviews, poems or contribute photographs and artwork........ Future directions... For tenants to learn publishing and editing skills to take more ownership of co-ordinating the creation of the quarterly newsletter

Welcome Packs

We provide welcome packs to all new Rooming House residents. This is thanks to a partnership that we have formed with Rotary.

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Fresh Food

Thanks to the generosity of Second Bite we are able to provide tenants with some fresh fruit and vegetables on a weekly basis

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Books, books and more books

A very successful partnership with Benjamin Andrew Footpath Library allows us to supply new books to all Rooming Houses.

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Internet Access

• Ascot Vale Men’s Only Rooming House
• Small house of 15 residents
• Residents advocated to us that access to the

internet should be seen as a way of reducing social isolation because of the increased popularity of social media

• Local Government grant to purchase equipment
• WIFI is now self funded by tenants, though still

co-ordinated through Wombat

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Green Renting Exhibition

We partnered with the “Green Renters” to host a “Green Renting Exhibition:” at the Richmond Town Hall. Many residents were transported in by bus. The aim was to seek to reduce

• perating costs at the

Rooming Houses.

Women's Housing Limited and Wombat Partnership 27/03/13

Challenges and Successes

Challenges

• Engaging with residents
• Motivating residents
• Targeting residents
• Providing relevant activities
• Confusion between roles of

WHL and WOMBAT Successes

• Builds self esteem
• Providing opportunities
• Develops friendships
• Linking to wider community
• Encourages independence

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Future Directions

Review of Program WHL and Wombat have auspiced the services of a volunteer to review our program.

• Written surveys
• Face to face interviews
• Focus Groups

This will help develop our planning for the future. Future Projects

• Continuation of photography

workshops

• Applied for a men’s health

grant

• Applied for a women’s health,

well-being and art grant

• Considering a grant involving

film – telling the story of our tenants

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Client Comments

Some of the comments from women that WHL have assisted over the years: “My home is important for my ongoing happiness and peace.” “The staff of Women’s Housing treat me like a person – thank you.” “Your services gave me the breathing space to focus and move forward despite the uncertainty of my future at that time. I could relax and feel safe in having Women’s Housing as my landlord. It was a huge sense of relief to feel safe and secure. Thank-you for your personal, kind and understanding approach. Rock solid rendering of services.”

Women's Housing Limited and Wombat Partnership 27/03/13

Women's Housing Limited and Wombat Partnership 27/03/13

Some feedback from some of our art projects......

"Great pieces of art, fun ,being creative helps my depression heaps and my self esteem.“ "I got to do something new, meet new people, make new friends and

• socialise. I also found that I really like working with clay and making things

that I can give as gift to my family. I found that I'm able to successfully make things in clay which helped me feel better about myself and showed me that I can do anything if I only try.” " A sense of togetherness, satisfaction of seeing a job through to completion.“ “Yes I have got to know the women better and gets me out of my room once a week to do something fun instead of just health appointments.”

Katrina O’Sullivan Community Support Worker WOMBAT Housing and Support Services 191 Melrose Street North Melbourne 3051 kat@wombat.org.au Ph: 8327 2222 Lindy Parker Operations Manager Women’s Housing Ltd Suite 1, 21 Cremorne Street Cremorne, Victoria, 3121 lindyp@womenshousing.com.au Ph: 9412 6868

Women's Housing Limited and Wombat Partnership 27/03/13