‘Housing State of Play – Opportunities for Community Housing NSW’
Community Housing Conference 2023, facilitated by Rebecca Pinkstone
Bridge Housing | 2023 Impact Report
Influencing change
Leadership and advocacy that creates positive change in the housing system.
$
29.5
M
Extra grant funding
16
Conference and speaker events
9
Industry awards
We use our experience delivering housing to those in need to help decision makers to improve the housing crisis. By building an evidence base of solutions, we can work in partnership with government, communities and businesses to make change. With record investment in social and affordable housing, there’s a huge opportunity to make a difference for generations to come.
Our key advocacy achievements
- Step to Home program extension – $8.9M to provide a housing first response to 68 people experiencing homelessness in partnership with Neami National, Women’s Housing Company and Metro Community Housing
- Northern Beaches Women’s Shelter – $6M in partnership with Women’s Community Shelters to set up a shelter with self-contained units and onsite services for women and children leaving domestic and family violence
- Aboriginal Women’s Housing project – $12.8M to purchase and upgrade 20 units in Glebe dedicated for Aboriginal women, including environmental sustainability upgrades and co-designed landscaping based on Connecting with Country principles
- Maintenance funding – $1.8M to deliver home upgrades to 120 homes managed on behalf of the NSW Government
- Social impact deal – $65M partnership with institutional investor Conscious Investment Management to provide long term stable homes, unlocked through an extension of the Community Housing Leasehold Program’s leasing subsidy guarantee by the NSW Government.
Thought Leaders
We have almost 40 years of experience in delivering solutions to complex social problems. We understand what it takes to address the housing crisis and how to deliver the social and affordable housing our community needs. Our innovative and impactful approach is recognised in the industry and more broadly by decision makers.
‘ESG for Boards’
NSW Community Housing Conference 2023, presented by Ellis Blaikie
- Social Housing Excellence, Nudge Project
- Leading Innovation, Digital Strategy and Portal
- Leading Community Engagement Practice, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Tenant Advisory Group
- Outstanding Achievement, Helen Tighe
NSW AHI Award Winners
‘Australia’s future housing system: renovate or detonate’
Festival of Urbanism Panel Discussion, Rebecca Pinkstone
- Chair’s Commendation for Consistent Outstanding Reporting
- Best of Sector, Community & Welfare
Australian Reporting Awards
Government Program Collaboration (Highly Commended), Step to Home Program
PowerHousing Awards 2022
‘It’s not rocket science: Embedding a Systemic Housing First Response in Australia’ Read it here.
Article in Parity Journal, authored by Ellis Blaikie
$65 million social impact investment partnership to acquire 90 homes
Conscious Investment Management and Bridge Housing teams
‘Best practice in technology and cyber resilience for future growth’
PowerHousing Exchange 2022 facilitated by Rob Mazzucco
Contributions to Accommodation and Support, Maria Berry
Northern Beaches Domestic Violence Network
Building relationships
To influence systemic change, we build strong networks and connections with decision makers to share our knowledge and expertise. We also work with universities and academic partners to make a difference by building the research base, encouraging innovation and inspiring students.
Image: Yvonne Weldon Tour
Advocates for change
Our staff and residents are passionate ambassadors for the difference a safe, secure, affordable home makes. We are out and about in our community sharing this knowledge, building our understanding of what works and pushing for change to make our communities better.
Image: Yabun 2023
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Case study: Finding Home Exhibition
To celebrate the 2023 NAIDOC Week theme ‘For our Elders’, we held a photo exhibition featuring Elders living in our community. ‘FINDING HOME’ celebrates our Elders and shares their insights through words and images.
With portraits shot by Human Rights Photographer Belinda Mason, the exhibition speaks to the resilience and strength our Elders embody in the face of dispossession and displacement and an unbreakable connection to county and culture.
The advocacy of our Elders has contributed significantly to advancing Aboriginal people’s rights to self-determination and healing through truth-telling. We are honoured by their generosity to share knowledge with our community and through our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Tenant Advisory Group, which was recognised as the winner of the AHI Leading Community Engagement Practice Award for NSW this year.
“I was born here on Gadigal country just down from the road from where I live now. This is my ‘home’. I am an urban Aboriginal woman. My ‘homelands’ are in north-western NSW” said Aunty Jenny.
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Case study: Nudge Theory
We look for innovative ways to tackle issues drawing on evidence from other sectors. We were the first community housing provider in Australia to embrace Nudge Theory to transform our service delivery. Nudge Theory uses insights from social psychology and behavioural economics about how people make decisions to design programs and processes that work for the people using them.
By taking the time to understand the problem and to design and test a solution before rolling it out, we’ve delivered changes that really work for our residents and staff.
We were recognised as the winner of the AHI Social Housing Excellence Award for NSW this year for our work to deliver better services using Nudge. We want to keep sharing our approach with other community housing providers.
95%Property inspection access up from 73%
45minsAdmin time saved per sign up
73%Residents returning rent review forms on time up from 55%
34%Increase in residents in debt repayment plans
65%Increase in Hand Up program participants
Bridge Housing acknowledges the Gadigal, Darug, Bidjigal and Gai-mariagal people as the traditional owners of the lands on which we work, and we pay our respects to Elders past and present.
Always was, always will be, Aboriginal Land.