Home in Place Housing Access Team

Intake, Emergency Accommodation, Temporary Accommodation and Private Rental assistance in NSW.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics estimates around 116,000 Australians are homeless on any given night. Almost 26,000 of these will be children.

Many Home in Place tenants have experienced homelessness in one form or another. Some have fled domestic or family violence, others have experienced childhood trauma which often results in addiction or mental health issues. Many simply cannot afford to rent privately.

The Home in Place Housing Access team provides a comprehensive range of applicant services and advice to clients by:

• Managing the intake, assessment and approval process for new applicants to the Social Housing Register
• Facilitating the delivery of Temporary Accommodation and Private Rental Assistance products in the Hunter and the Great Lakes and Manning regions.
• Providing referrals to other service providers and provide information on alternative housing products and services

Housing Access Services

Temporary Accommodation

An urgent need for temporary accommodation may exist where a client finds themselves:

• homeless due to natural disasters
• unable to live in their homes due to a domestic violence situation which places them or their children at risk,
• homeless and with custody of children

The Home in Place team facilitates Temporary Accommodation from our Muswellbrook, Taree and Cessnock offices.

Rent Choice – Start Safely

Our Housing Access team can help clients find and sustain accommodation in the private rental market through the NSW Government’s rental assistance program Rent Choice Start Safely.

Rent Choice Start Safely provides rent support to people who do not have stable and secure place to live due to domestic or family violence.

To be eligible to receive a Rent Choice Start Safely, you should be escaping domestic or family violence and:

• be homeless or at risk of being homeless
• be eligible for social housing
• demonstrate that you will be able to afford the private market rental after the subsidy period ends
• be willing to receive support services, if needed.

Rent It Keep It

Home in Place branches run Rent It Keep It programs to support our tenants in providing them with the opportunity to attend these programs and gain an understanding of what is needed to successfully sustain a tenancy.

Our Housing Access team also runs quarterly sessions for people who are homeless or in transitional properties with little experience in the private rental market or who have had previous problems with their tenancies in the past.

For more information about Rent It Keep It, contact our Housing Access team on 1300 333 733.

Private Rental Subsidy

The Private Rental Subsidy is a medium term solution to assist a priority approved client accessing affordable accommodation in the private rental market while waiting for social housing.

To be eligible you must have a disability. For further details please refer to the Department of Communities and Justice (DCJ) Housing website.

http://www.facs.nsw.gov.au/housing/factsheets/private-rental-subsidy

Bond Extra

The Bond Extra program encourages private sector landlords and agents to rent properties to people who are having difficulty entering the private rental market even though they have the income and skills to sustain a successful tenancy.

For further details please refer to the DCJ Housing website.

Bond Loans

The Department of Communities and Justice may be able to assist you with a loan of up to 100% of rental bond. The loan is interest free and repayable to the department.

For further details please refer to the DCJ Housing website www.facs.nsw.gov.au/housing/living/rent-and-bills/dcj-housing-rental-bonds

Tenancy Assistance | Advance Rent

Advance Rent is provided to the client as a grant by DCJ Housing and is not repaid. However, it is not available unless the client is also receiving a Rentstart Bond Loan or is moving into accommodation where a Bond Loan is not applicable.

For further details please refer to the DCJ Housing website at www.facs.nsw.gov.au/housing/factsheets/private-rental-assistance

Emergency Accommodation

Disaster Response

During the horrendous fires that scorched the Mid-North Coast in November 2019, the Housing Access team were directly involved in assisting people of the region who had lost their homes, into Emergency Accommodation.

Home in Place was an integral part in contributing to the government’s emergency response to these unprecedented fires.

NSW Government’s Together Home program

Home in Place was one of 19 community housing providers contracted to deliver support packages to people in the Hunter and Western NSW who are experiencing homelessness into housing thanks to funding through the NSW Government’s Together Home program.

Together Home involves securing housing for rough sleepers from the private rental market and connecting them to tailored support services to address their individual needs.

Together Home is different to programs run in the past because the funding is managed directly by Home in Place and the other community housing providers and has a funding component specifically for case management of this often complex cohort. In line with the Housing First Model, this helps to ensure both housing and support services are tailored to tenants needs. It delivers stable housing and wrap-around support for hundreds of people experiencing homelessness.