News

Social Housing Community Improvement Fund

The environment in which we live plays an important role in our wellbeing.

Mission Australia Housing (MAH) is fully committed to improving the living environment of our tenants by maintaining properties and ensuring that open spaces and communal areas are safe, attractive and fit-for purpose.

Last year, MAH ended the Christmas period with the submission of eight applications to the NSW Government’s Social Housing Community Improvement Fund (SHCIF).

This year MAH opened the Easter break with the news that all eight applications were successful, injecting nearly $250k into MAH community housing sites across NSW.

“This is a fantastic opportunity to work with tenants and the local community to make some significant improvements to our homes and our community. The grant applications were developed based on feedback from tenants about what is important to them in their homes. Tenants are going to be instrumental in working with MAH to deliver these projects,” said Davina Lomas, MAH National Operations Manager.

These projects will strengthen communities by building capacity and improve housing facilities at the same time. Over the next year, projects improving our social housing communities in the Greater Western Sydney region will be rolled out and include safety and security programs, rubbish education programs, community centres and edible garden projects. Common Ground in Camperdown was also successful in securing funds to upgrade communal garden areas for tenants. Watch the video to see how important these spaces are for resident, Dylan Mackinlay (insert ABC link)

Jeff, an MAH tenant in Greater Western Sydney and member of the Tenant Action Group (TAG), said: “Tenants will feel safer and sleep better at night knowing that some of the security measures will detract from the frequent vandalism we’ve experienced. The funds will give us the incentive to move forward. The TAG looks forward to working alongside Mission Australia Housing to implement these projects.”

Greening the urban environment and promoting a sustainable lifestyle helps to develop gardening skills, improve environmental outcomes and create opportunities for local people to learn new skills. Edible garden programs, safety, security and wellbeing programs, and rubbish education programs are a number of much needed improvements funded on the Mid North Coast of NSW.