Argyle Community Housing Limited (Argyle Housing) is pleased to present the Annual Report for 2022–23.

This report is an overview of our operational and financial performance throughout the 2022–23 financial year. It gives the reader an explanation of how we have delivered services to our Clients and shows how we are striving to make a better future for the communities in which we serve.

This is the first report against our new Argyle Housing Strategic Plan 2022-2024. It describes the businesses performance over the last financial year and highlights the achievements of our Staff and Clients. The report tells us what we have been doing well and the areas in which we need to make improvements in services to our Clients and the broader community.

Visit argylehousing.com.au for more information about who we are, what services we provide and what we are achieving for our client and communities. Also follow us on our social media channels through the #argylehousing for the most up to date information.

We value your feedback on this Annual Report because it helps us make our next report better.

Email your feedback or questions to info@argylehousing.com.au

Write to us at: Argyle Housing P.O. Box 1026, Bowral NSW 2576

Speak to our Communications and Marketing Manager on +612 447 144 618

ABN 88 002 761 855

ACN 002 761 855

Inclusivity Theme

What does Inclusivity mean to our Clients?

Inclusion with our Clients means valuing and respecting diversity in all aspects. It means understanding and acknowledging the unique cultural, social, and economic differences of our Clients and ensuring that we cater to their specific needs. Inclusion in our Client relationships also means having a diverse workforce that can relate to and understand the needs of our Clients. We strive to create an inclusive and welcoming environment for all our Clients, irrespective of their race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation or religious beliefs. Our goal is to provide a safe and accessible environment where our Clients feel welcomed, included, and valued, and where they receive the best possible services that meet their individual needs.

What does Inclusivity mean for the Workplace?

Argyle Housing will endeavour to create an inclusive workplace culture where every employee feels accepted, included, and valued. Inclusivity is about fostering diversity and collaboration while creating a sense of belonging, connection, and engagement for each employee in the working environment. Inclusive workplaces offer equal opportunities for every employee, irrespective of their race, gender, ethnicity, religion, or any other background. It involves creating a working environment that is safe, respectful, and supportive, where every employee can bring their authentic self to work, without fear of discrimination or bias.

Audience

The 2023 Argyle Housing Annual Report is primarily aimed at the following audiences:

• Our Clients, residents, and applicants of housing services
• Federal, state, and local governments
• Support services of Argyle Housing
• Argyle Housing Staff
• Private sector Affordable Housing partners
• Corporate and private sector partners

Argyle Housing acknowledges the Traditional Owners of Country throughout Australia and recognises their continuing connection to lands, waters, and communities. We pay our respect to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures, and to Elders both past and present. We are committed to our reconciliation journey, because at its heart, reconciliation is about strengthening relationships between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal peoples, for the benefit of all Australians.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples should be aware that this website may contain images or names of people who have since passed away.

We provide secure homes for people and together create a foundation for opportunity.

The principles of our Client Value Proposition

• We care
• We work with you
• We believe a safe and affordable home is the foundation for opportunity
• Our goal is your wellbeing
• We listen to understand you
• We discover, develop and foster relationships
• We keep each other accountable
• We deliver our promises

Argyle Housing’s 2022-2024 Corporate Strategy sets a clear strategic direction with aspirational goals for the years ahead.

The review and consultation process occurred during the most recent NSW pandemic lockdown. Our focus was on the long-term sustainability of our organisation and to continue to provide high quality community housing services across our footprint.

Our Staff have demonstrated exceptional resilience and perseverance throughout floods, bushfires and the COVID pandemic. Their determination meant we maintained our high standard of Client and property management services. We thank our staff for their efforts during this time.

In 2023/24, new initiatives will be based on insights from industry and stakeholder research whilst maintaining our Clients at the centre of our decision making and service delivery.

Our sincere thanks to everyone who participated in our consultation process. Their views are valued, and their recommendations will help to build on the community-focus of Argyle Housing. The Argyle Housing Board, Executive and Staff are committed to adapting our organisation to serve evolving community housing needs into the future.

Carolyn Doherty, CEO

Argyle Housing is a not-for-profit, Community Housing Provider. Our main objective is to provide and manage secure, Social and Affordable Housing for people on low to moderate incomes who would otherwise struggle to find accommodation.

Argyle Housing is a high performing Tier 1 Community Housing Provider and a Registered not-for-profit that delivers specialised, evidence-based tenancy and support services tailored to local regional and urban contexts across New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory. Argyle Housing currently has approximately 2,500 properties under management that house over 4,500 people from all walks of Australia’s diverse society.

Argyle Housing is also a registered provider with the NDIS Safeguard Commission accredited to provide or facilitate Tenancy Support and Home Modifications to our Clients who live with a disability.

Argyle Housing is working on delivering the Future Directions for Social Housing priorities by providing new, good quality housing that will enable a pathway and opportunity for Social Housing Clients to move through the housing continuum from Social Housing to Affordable Housing and onto the private rental market and home ownership.

Argyle Housing is an ethical organisation committed to increasing the supply of quality Affordable Housing for people in regional NSW. Argyle Housing has been working with local councils and private and/or public stakeholders in regional areas to deliver housing that meets the identified needs of the community. These are exciting major projects that will bring about real change and opportunity in currently disadvantaged communities.

With over 38 years’ experience working in the Community Housing Sector, Argyle Housing manages Social and Affordable homes in the Wingecarribee LGA, Wollondilly LGA, Campbelltown, Goulburn, Leeton, Young, Yass, Temora, Griffith, Wagga Wagga, Albury, Canberra, and Queanbeyan.

What We Do

Argyle Housing has a unique, proven Client centred approach to tenancy management delivered by a Team of dedicated, Specialist Staff who support our Clients:

Housing Access Team

Argyle Housing has a dedicated Housing Access Team that manages applications, assessments and allocations for all social and affordable housing applicants. The Team is responsive to Clients’ needs and supports them through to lease signing and soft hand over to the Client Support Specialist Team.

Client Support Specialist Team

We have a dedicated Client Support Team who are the main contact point for our Clients throughout their tenancy. We work with Clients to access opportunities in their local community and have a real say in how we deliver our services. Out Client Support Specialists work with Clients and service partners to provide practical support to sustain tenancies and support wellbeing.

Assets Team

The Assets Team manages matainence 24/7 , focused on ensuring that Clients receive a responsive and high standard outcome to their maintenance needs, working to clear repair timeframes with a proven track record of maintaining properties to a high standard.

Rent Services Team

The Rent Services Team is a dedicated team specialising in the management of rent and non-rent debt, as well as rent and eligibility asse tenancies.

Transition Team

The Transition Team specialises in making the end of tenancy and/or transfer experience for Clients as seamless and hassle free as possible. This team finalises all matters relating to an end of tenancy including bond refunds, former tenant categorisation, references and compensation order, This Team are also responsible for the management of all Tribunal matters where this is required.

Our Strategic Focus

The critical factors for our success, set out in Argyle Housing’s Strategic Plan 2022-24, are:

• Meeting affordable housing need by increasing our property portfolio; and
• Delivering quality homes and housing services

We will continue to achieve these success factors by:

• Governing effectively
• Managing the business sustainably
• Supporting our people and improving our workplace
• Enhancing our communication

Our Clients

Argyle Housing Clients come from all walks of life and all backgrounds. We have over 4,500 Clients in our properties and work in partnership with them and partner agencies to:

• Increase opportunities.
• Strengthen local community connections.
• Support successful tenancies.
• Ensure our clients have a real say in how we do things.

In the 2023 Client Satisfaction Survey Argyle Housing achieved an 85% overall satisfaction rating from its Clients.

Our Approach

Argyle Housing’s Specialist Team approach to tenancy management is informed by:

• Our people-focused value and robust Client service framework.
• An ability to develop and apply community housing policies in line with government expectations.
• A commitment to transparent, tenant informed decision-making.
• Effective arrears management and support for Clients struggling to pay their rent.
• Effective allocation and management to ensure the best utilisation of properties.
• Flexibility and responsiveness to new opportunities and housing demand; and
• A proven ability to integrate new tenancies into our processes through experience with stock transfers in NSW and successful contracting for new management opportunities including Common Ground and Ainslie Village in the ACT.

Our Board

Argyle Housing is governed by a highly skilled and experienced Board of Directors. Each member brings a diverse range of expertise and knowledge to effectively guide the strategic direction of Argyle Housing. Moreover, our Chief Executive Officer, along with our Leadership Team, leads a dedicated group of individuals who are committed to implementing this strategic vision. They work tirelessly to ensure that Argyle Housing achieves its goals and delivers on its mission of providing quality housing solutions to those in need.

Key Personnel

Carolyn has a background in Child Protection and Community Housing, having spent eight years as the CEO of a large housing company in Queensland, prior to returning to NSW. Carolyn is deeply passionate about housing, knowing that it is the foundation of people’s lives. Without long term stable housing, people can face overwhelming barriers to health, education, employment, and most of all personal safety. Carolyn commenced working with Argyle Housing in 2018 and was appointed to the CEO position in April 2022.

Milan has over 18 years of experience in the community housing and real estate sectors, including over 15 years in senior leadership positions. He is skilled in budgeting, working with Government Team Building and is a graduate in Project Management. Milan gained experience in managing integrated Teams comprising frontline business operations, tenancy management, support coordination and place-making . Possessing expertise in the areas of project and contract management, assets and compliance, strategic partnership management, consortium building, and community engagement and participation to deliver exceptional customer service, strong operational and compliance results, and outcomes contributing to customer wellbeing.

With over 12 years’ experience as a senior executive in the not-for-profit sector (including the community housing industry), Sudha has experience in development management, investment and financial modelling, including preparing robust financial models for new business ventures. She has also managed and reported on the progress of capital funded projects and was heavily involved in internal and external stakeholder management of these projects. Sudha demonstrates sound project management experience and consistently demonstrates the ability to lead, develop and get results.

In addition to her extensive financial leadership expertise, she is a qualified CPA and is RMIT Certified in Project Management and Digital Delivery.

Cherie has been with Argyle Housing for four years and prior to this worked in child protection for the NSW Government for two years and has over 10 years management experience in the private sector. Cherie started her career in January 2019 with Community Housing in the ACT as the Team Leader for Argyle Housing ACT and has now been in the Client Services Manager role for more than two years. In this role she manages the Client Services Teams of Argyle Housing across 10 office locations in NSW and the ACT. Cherie holds a Bachelor of Social Work Degree, and a Diploma in business management.

Scott has a Bachelor of Education Art and Design, Graphic Design Graduate SAE Institute Australia. Scott has over 25 years’ experience in design and marketing and has extensive knowledge supervising creative development activities and brand management functions for multiple national and local companies covering a wide variety of industries. Scott is a director of his own business, Dunstan Design and has held senior design and consultation roles in both the private sector as well as national member organisations. Scott has coordinated the branding styles, website design, social media presence, logo design, business model development and marketing services for multiple companies spread across various industries. Scott’s extensive design and marketing experience is coupled with a strong understanding of the social and community housing sector after three years of working with Argyle Housing.

Angela brings with her a wealth of experience from her previous roles. And with 14 years of working in the social housing sector, Angela has knowledge and experience leading various customer facing roles as well as collaborating with other areas of the business to ensure that the level of customer experience is exceptional and meets the needs of the individual.

Angela’s previous roles have seen her responsible for organisations delivery of Asset Management, Repairs and Maintenance including managing Projects from its implementation phase to final delivery, this has given her the ability to work collaboratively with internal teams whilst being customer-centric.

I am delighted and honoured to present the Annual Report for Argyle Housing Community Housing Limited (“Argyle Housing”) for 2022-23.

I have been involved with Argyle Housing as a Board Member since 2018 and more recently as Chair. During this time alone, Argyle Housing has grown in the number of clients assisted and housing provided and continues on a pattern of growth and success of Argyle Housing since commencing in 1984.

The objectives of Argyle Housing may seem relatively simple in their goals:

• To advance social or public welfare by relieving poverty, distress or disadvantage of individuals or families.
• To assist people on low to moderate incomes with their housing by providing access to quality, low cost, social and affordable housing solutions.
• To encourage an increased involvement of people and organisations in the solution of problems affecting the communities in conjunction with relevant federal, state, territory, regional or local authorities.
• To raise public awareness and understanding of the reasons why people become homeless and poorly housed.

The achievement of the objectives is complex.  Argyle Housing achieves its objectives through the engagement of our clients, our people and other organisations, leading to our success in providing quality housing for our clients and continuously improving as an organisation.

Argyle Housing manages housing for over 4,500 clients in approximately 2,600 houses and a geographic region covering 17 local NSW governments and ACT, including Campbelltown, Wingecarribee, Goulburn, Yass, Wagga, Griffith, Queanbeyan and Ainsley in ACT.  This is a wide and diverse area across NSW and ACT.

During the year, Argyle Housing has completed our Client Survey with a majority of our Clients responding to the survey.   It is from this high level of the engagement with our Clients and details of their responses that Argyle Housing is able to identify areas of improvement and continue to provide quality services and better housing outcomes for our Clients.  Argyle Housing provides more than housing for our Clients.  Argyle Housing strives to connect its Clients with the community they live in.  From partnering with other services in the community to providing notice boards of local events, Argyle Housing recognises the importance of community and belonging.

Argyle Housing advocates to the Federal, State and Local Governments regarding the needs of social and affordable housing in Southwest Sydney and Regional NSW. Argyle Housing has been successful in participating in several government initiatives and grants which have allowed Argyle Housing to acquire or develop additional properties and provide substantial maintenance upgrades to some of its existing housing. This success includes additional housing acquired under the “Together Homes” project and other purchases of housing during the year.  Argyle Housing is also proud to be involved with NSW Land and Housing Corporation and Aboriginal Housing Office, in the “Tolland Estate Renewal” project in Wagga.  This project will see Argyle Housing manage approximately 180 houses for Clients and be part of a group developing 500 homes in the area.  Argyle Housing and Griffith City Council’s “Griffin Green” project was recognised by PowerHousing Australia, being awarded for innovative social and affordable housing in regional NSW, including 20 townhouses, 42 lots, a new playground, Indigenous medicinal garden, basketball court, large open green space and Community Hub.

Argyle Housing prides itself on having employees who are actively engaged in making a difference to people’s lives through assisting them with the housing provided by Argyle Housing and connection to communities.

Argyle Housing is committed to being an employer of choice for its employees, providing a wonderful place to work and opportunities to work across many areas of Argyle Housing’s business and office locations.

Argyle Housing continues to support its Clients and communities with its Reconciliation Action Plan for 2023-2025.  With the implementation of this plan, Argyle Housing is demonstrating its commitment towards creating a diverse and inclusive environment, where people of all backgrounds can feel welcome and thrive. For Argyle Housing, acknowledging diversity and promoting inclusion are fundamental values to be upheld.  Through the implementation of our Reconciliation Action Plan, Argyle Housing will continue to work towards building relationships and creating an inclusive workplace that values and respects the culture and traditions of Australia’s First Nations Peoples and ensuring First Nations Peoples’ access to quality housing.

Argyle Housing’s commitment to providing and managing a large number of houses for our Clients, requires strong and prudent operational and financial management.  The Board of Directors and Argyle Housing Executive develop and implement overarching Strategic Plans, Strategic Asset Management Plans and other programs to ensure Argyle Housing meets its financial and operational obligations and responsibilities.

Argyle Housing has had a very successful 2022-2023 and is committed to its objectives of providing secure, affordable, and sensitively managed housing opportunities for low-income households, people who are vulnerable or marginalised and those who are unable to gain or sustain tenancies in the private rental market, to continue to advocate on their behalf for housing, and to support our people in providing outstanding service to Argyle Housing Clients.

In the past year, Argyle Housing has experienced a whirlwind of success, filled with incredible accomplishments that we can truly be proud of.

We have worked hard over the past 12 months to embed our new organisational structure that we designed to improve our Clients experience and provide better outcomes through our service delivery. It was very rewarding when we completed our bi-annual Client Benchmarking Survey to receive not only a record 70% survey return rate but to see our overall client satisfaction rate at 85%, 10 points above the regulatory threshold. This is an incredible result and knowing that the response rate we received from our Clients, means that the feedback and data has real integrity and can help shape our service improvement for the next two years.

After a 12 month process Argyle Housing we were proud to launch our Reconciliation Action Plan (RAP) on the 28 June. This has been a journey of personal and professional discovery for our whole team, that has led to the whole organisation embracing our Vision towards the elimination of housing inequity for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.

The launch of our RAP is one milestone in the journey and our contribution to Reconciliation and closing the gap through housing for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and has already lead to a number of important practice changes including entering into a MOU with ATAAS services on improving cultural competency in practice towards the increased sustainability of housing for First Nations people.

We have also made significant progress this year towards the completion of the Griffin Green development which will see the completion of 20 affordable housing units in Griffith, alongside 40 serviced lots, and Community Hub, which we will commence building in the second half of 2023. This has included receiving $1.479M to complete our largest ever placemaking project at Dave Taylor Park in support of the community within and around this important development.  The Griffith Green Project saw us win the National Powerhousing Business Partnership Award with Griffith City Council in 2022, an achievement we are very proud of.

We have come a long way in the last year and I would like to thank the incredible support of the Argyle Housing Team who each and every day share their passion and commitment to our Clients through their work, no matter what role they play it makes a tremendous difference. And to the Board of Directors for their ongoing commitment and support through a period of rapid growth and transformation.

We would like to thank the Commonwealth, NSW, and ACT Governments; and the organisations, agencies, contractors and local governments that have worked with Argyle Housing throughout 2022/2023. You have all helped us deliver great outcomes for and assisted in creating new opportunities for our Clients and communities.

We also acknowledge and thank our Staff across all locations. We appreciate your effort and commitment throughout the year.