Establishing a national regulatory system for community housing providers is a whole-of-government reform commitment under the National Affordable Housing Agreement (2009–14).
After initial consultations with stakeholders in 2010, Australian Ministers for Housing at all levels of government (state, territory and Commonwealth) agreed to the broad principles for a new system. In June 2011, the Ministers agreed in-principle to endorse a blueprint outlining the new system’s key elements and requested that the Housing Ministers’ Advisory Committee undertake public consultation to inform the development of a final proposal. For further information on the public consultation forums visit Queensland consultation on the national regulatory system.
National legislation will establish the basis for the registration of not-for-profit social housing providers in all Australian jurisdictions.
The new system will introduce a consistent, nationwide framework of regulation for not-for-profit housing providers, and aims to:
- improve outcomes for tenants
- protect government investment
- provide partner confidence, including attracting private investment to the not-for-profit housing sector
- improve the ability of housing providers to operate across state and territory borders
- reduce costs and administration levels, and
- ensure Australia’s not-for-profit housing providers meet consistently high standards.
It is anticipated that if Housing Ministers agree to a final proposal, the national regulatory system will commence in 2013.
Implementation will require states and territories to replace their existing regulatory arrangements, review related program and funding settings and apply the national approach to the regulation of community housing.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Australia License