It’s been a busy few weeks for Community Housing Futures WA (CHFWA), with regional visits, conversations with community housing organisations and plenty of new ideas emerging as we continue developing the program. From meeting with organisations across regional Western Australia to exploring different housing models and practical ways to support the sector, October has given us plenty to reflect on.

Out and about across regional WA

A big part of CHFWA’s work involves getting out into communities, listening to organisations and understanding the different housing challenges and opportunities across the state. Over recent weeks, our team has visited the Wheatbelt, Great Southern and Mid West, meeting with community housing providers, Aboriginal community-controlled organisations, community leaders and local stakeholders.

While each region has its own circumstances, several common themes have emerged:

• Housing affordability and availability continue to affect regional communities, particularly where shortages are impacting local workforces and essential services.
• Greater access to temporary and transitional housing is needed.
• Aboriginal organisations are seeking greater opportunities and investment to develop community-led housing solutions.
• Smaller and emerging housing organisations are looking for practical support, resources and partnerships to build their capability and consider future growth.

In Geraldton, the team attended the Yamatji On-Country meeting, which brought together Elders, community members, Aboriginal organisations, government representatives and service providers to discuss regional priorities. We also had the opportunity to visit the Bundiyarra Regional Aboriginal Community Kinship Stay (BRACKS) facilities and learn more about the work being undertaken there. In Albany and across the Wheatbelt, discussions reinforced the importance of understanding local circumstances and recognising the knowledge, experience and aspirations already present within communities.

Thank you to everyone who has welcomed our team, shared their experiences and contributed to these conversations. What we’re hearing is helping inform how CHFWA can best support organisations across WA.

Exploring different approaches to housing

Our team also attended the Australian Co-operative Housing Alliance (ACHA) Summit, where we heard from speakers exploring the role and potential of co-operative housing in Australia. Housing co-operatives offer an interesting approach to housing ownership, management and resident participation. While well established in some parts of Australia, there are relatively few examples in Western Australia. This raises some worthwhile questions. Could housing co-operatives play a greater role in WA? What would be needed to support their establishment and growth? And what can we learn from existing models around the country? We’re interested in continuing these conversations with community housing organisations, residents, government and others working in the sector.

 Another interesting discussion to emerge from the Summit was around how organisations measure the value they create. We recently caught up with Dr Paul Thambar from Mutual Value Lab to learn more about his work on measuring and communicating mutual value. For not-for-profit organisations, financial statements tell an important part of the story, but they don’t necessarily capture the broader value created for communities and society. This is particularly relevant to community housing, where outcomes can extend well beyond the number of homes an organisation manages.

We’re looking forward to inviting Paul to share his work and insights through a CHFWA Community of Practice Lunch & Learn session in 2027.

Program updates: What’s happening across our three streams?

Alongside our sector engagement activities, work is continuing across CHFWA’s three interconnected streams.

Growth Readiness Assessments: Applications remain open

Our free Growth Readiness Assessments remain available to registered, unregistered and emerging community housing organisations across WA.

Developed by Shelter WA specifically for the Western Australian community housing sector and delivered by independent external assessors, the assessment provides organisations with an opportunity to review their current capabilities, consider their ambitions and identify practical pathways for future growth. Depending on their circumstances, this might involve managing additional homes, developing new housing, pursuing registration or exploring other opportunities to contribute to social and affordable housing supply.

An important update for Tier 2 and Tier 3 organisations: In Round 2 of the Business Advisory Grants, organisations that have completed a Growth Readiness Assessment and are at least partially implementing its recommendations will be eligible to apply for grants exceeding $50,000.

With the next funding round opening in July 2027, organisations interested in this opportunity are encouraged to consider undertaking their assessment early.

Submit your EOI today: https://chfwa.org.au/growth-readiness-assessment-eoi-form

Business Advisory Grants: Projects underway

All projects funded through the first round of Business Advisory Grants are now underway. The CHFWA team is meeting with project teams to learn more about their work, understand their progress and discuss the opportunities and challenges emerging as projects move forward. The grants support organisations to engage specialist expertise in areas such as business planning, financial management, asset management, risk management and registration.

We’re looking forward to seeing how these projects progress and sharing relevant learnings with the broader sector. Round 2 of the Business Advisory Grants is scheduled to open in July 2027.

Learning and Development Hub: Listening to the sector

We’ve now completed the final round of our Learning and Development Hub consultation workshops, bringing together organisations and stakeholders to discuss their training needs, knowledge gaps and priorities. Our sector survey remains open, but we’re already seeing some clear indications of where organisations would benefit from additional training, practical tools and shared resources.

The Hub will focus on building organisational capability, including areas such as governance, asset management and other skills needed to support sustainable growth and housing delivery. Feedback from the workshops and survey will help shape the Hub’s priorities, including which existing training opportunities we can make more accessible, where new training may be needed and what practical resources could be developed.

We’re also planning a series of Community of Practice Lunch & Learn sessions in 2027, providing opportunities for organisations to hear from experts, exchange experiences and learn from one another. If you haven’t yet contributed to our Learning and Development survey, there’s still an opportunity to have your say.

https://chfwa.org.au/home/learning-and-development

Looking ahead

The conversations we’ve had over recent weeks have highlighted both the challenges facing community housing organisations and the range of ideas, experience and expertise already available within the sector.

As CHFWA continues to develop, we’re keen to keep learning from organisations, connecting people with useful expertise and identifying practical opportunities to support the delivery of more social and affordable housing in WA. Whether you’re an established community housing provider, an emerging organisation or someone with knowledge or experience that could benefit the sector, we’d welcome the opportunity to connect.

Get in touch: team@chfwa.org.au

To keep up with program updates, upcoming opportunities and relevant sector news, you can also sign up to our CHFWA e-newsletter.