HAAG participated in the first-ever Community-led Housing (CLH) Roundtable in Queensland. The roundtable was led by Sam O’Connor MP, Minister for Housing and Public Works, bringing together government representatives, sector leaders  and academics, alongside Q Shelter, the Housing Older Women Movement (HOWM) and individuals with lived experience of housing insecurity and homelessness.

The roundtable heard from experienced guest speakers, including Emeritus Professor Rachel Ong Viforj (Curtin University), Professor Wendy Stone (Swinburne University), Professor Louise Crabtree-Hayes (Western Sydney University), and Fiona York CEO of Housing for the Aged Action Group (HAAG) who provided an overview of the principles underpinning community-led housing, and where these models are flourishing in other parts of the country.

“Community-led housing” is the provision of stable, appropriate, and high-quality housing where community have a voice and input  during land acquisition, financing, design, development, and/or ongoing ownership, governance, and management. Community-led housing models often combine aspects of owning and renting e.g., permanently affordable ownership options using legal agreements to enable equity gain while staying affordable. They often focus on housing for income groups not currently served by the market – e.g., households with incomes too high for social housing but unable to buy due to their limited capacity to arrange a deposit - who we refer to as ‘the missing middle. Community-led housing often enables innovation in design, better blending and balancing of private and shared spaces.

The roundtable then moved into focused conversations to explore policy barriers and opportunities, avenues for cross-government collaboration, partnerships across private, governmental, and local council sectors. 

The Minister and his staff were present for over two hours, hearing about the opportunities for this type of housing to be supported by Government, as well as hearing directly from older people about how the housing crisis is impacting them. There was strong support from everyone present that a governance committee be established to get the ball rolling so that at least one demonstration project can be built. 

HAAG and our Queensland partners are really keen to work with the Queensland Government to make the project happen! The Roundtable was a testament to the hard work and tenacity of the Housing Older Women Movement, and we congratulate them for getting this off the ground!