Increase in number of social housing dwellings owned or managed by Launch Housing

The supply of social housing in Victoria has not kept pace with increased demand. In 2022, the proportion of social housing dwellings was just 2.9%, well below the national figure of 4.1%. As of June 2023, there were 65,195 people on the wait list for social housing in Victoria, 36,690 of those were in priority need of housing. This year, Launch Housing explored options to boost our diverse property portfolio to address our clients’ different needs, including looking at ways to make our homes and spaces more culturally safe and appropriate for First Nations clients and women and children leaving family violence.

Our work contributes to the SDGs

Over this financial year we have added new properties owned by Launch Housing to our portfolio, while at the same time returning several properties that were head leased by Homes Victoria or by us. As a result, we had an overall reduction of 359 properties under our management, but it is important to note that this is not a poor outcome.

The decrease in our managed properties is due to the completion of some of our head-lease programs including our long-running Drug Court service as well as the completion of the first phase of Homelessness to a Home, which ended the head leasing component of the program by supporting clients to move into long-term housing (see also Impact Measures one, two and three). Head leasing is a complex and short-term housing solution as it requires Launch Housing to lease a private rental property for our clients at full market rates with reimbursement of the gap by the government. Many of these head leased properties are only available for a one-year period, making them a predominately temporary housing solution.

On the other hand, owning properties outright allows us to ensure the built form design meets the needs of our renters, helping provide more stable and secure housing, particularly for people who have complex needs or high levels of vulnerability.

This year, we introduced 60 new long-term social housing apartments into our portfolio, specifically designed for women and children through the completion of Viv’s place.

We have allocated 6 of these homes to young women leaving care and a further 10% of the apartments are home to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander renters. At Viv’s place, we also have dual key apartments designed specifically to enable two apartments to become one to be used for women with larger families or for First Nations families who may have fluctuations in household size. Many of our other renters will have children who become teenagers or young adults while living at Viv’s Place and may need increased independence in their living arrangements.

We have more developments under construction or in the pipeline to help us continue increasing the amount of social housing available to Victorians.

While we acknowledge that providing social housing alone will not be enough, we also know that it is essential that we provide a positive and professional experience for our renters through their engagement with us.

A recent survey of our renters showed that 69% of long-term renters and 79% of transitional housing renters were satisfied with our housing and tenancy services. The survey also showed areas for improvement including repairs and maintenance. We have put in place several changes, including a dedicated resource for managing feedback and renter engagement, and are in the process of rolling out a new Feedback & Complaints Framework.

Looking ahead

We recognise the need for a diverse portfolio of properties for our clients as different people have different needs.

Our Bellfield Social Housing development is our next to open with 58 homes for very low to moderate-income earners from the Bellfield / Heidelberg West community. We aim to allocate 10% of apartments to First Nations households. New renters will move into their homes as the development achieves practical completion in early October 2023.