Western Housing for Youth Ltd
Annual General Meeting
ANNUAL REPORT
2012-2013
Contents
Agenda………………………………………………3
Minutes from Previous AGM………………………4
Chairpersons Report……………………………….8
Board Biographies…………………………………10
Staff Biographies…………………………………..12
Service Report...…………………………………...14
WHY Statistics 2012 – 2013……………………...27
Financial Reports………………………………......33
Directors Reports…………..………………………43
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Annual General Meeting
Wednesday 25th September, 2013
5pm-7pm
Holroyd Youth Services
289 Merrylands Road
Merrylands NSW 2160
AGENDA
1). Welcome and Apologies by Chair
2). Minutes from previous AGM
3). Chairperson’s Report
4). Staff Report
5). Financial Report
Nomination of auditor for 2014
6). Hand over to Returning Officer for
nominations
7). Accept Nominations
8). Hand back to new Board
9). Staff Presentation
10). Client Presentation
11). Close AGM
Guests are invited to stay for refreshments
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Minutes of Previous AGM Meeting
Western Housing for Youth
291 Merrylands Road,
Merrylands, NSW 2160
Minutes of
Annual General Meeting
24th October, 2012
Meeting held at Holroyd Youth Services
289 Merrylands Rd, Merrylands
Meeting opened at 5.15pm
Minutes by Joshua Hinchcliffe
Robert Mulcahy in the Chair
Present:
John Kerby
Joshua Hinchcliffe
Robert Mulcahy
Debra Ireson
Leanne Seymour
Kerry-Anne Brown
Mark Andrews
Bianca Miller
Cheryl Barrett
Rosemary Koriuki
Julie Owens
Adris Frety
Peter Prants
Trish Bramble
Ghada Demian
Clorinda Lee
Michelle Besant
Shareen Birges
Katherine Williams
Meri Carouska
Paul Palakattu
Ash Castro
Angela Lemafa
Salim Mehajer
Hela
Director - WHY
Director - WHY
Chairperson of WHY
Staff – WHY
Staff – WHY
Staff - WHY
Staff - WHY
Tenant - WHY
Affordable Community Housing
Holroyd Police
MP
SR Construction
FACS
Mission Australia
Parramatta Mission
Parramatta Police
Ecclesia Housing Ltd
GMCC
SCC
Holroyd Youth Services
PJ Taxation
Links 2 Learning
IWSC
Auburn City Council
THHPMRC
Apologies:
Therese Sanchez
Therese Douglas
Wilson
Acuoth Acol
Judith Brownhill
James Fry
Janet Ryan
Genine Somers
Anglicare
Granville TAFE
Centrelink Parramatta
THHPMRC
Ex-Staff – WHY
Ex-Staff – WHY
Ex-Staff – WHY
FACS
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Mark Reader
Robyn Dickinson
Richard Bulley
Kelly Spears
Pamela Farrell
The Hon. Chris Bowen MP
Andrew Rohan MP
Lord Mayor Clr Lorraine Wearne
Clr Paul Garrad
Michael Wright
Ern Phang
Mei Phang
Jay Dahl
FACS
FYRST
Holroyd City Council
Holroyd Local Area Command
Icare
MP
Member for Smithfield
Parramatta City Council
Parramatta City Council
Parramatta Mission
Phang Legal
Phang Legal
Holroyd High School Counsellor
Welcome and apologies by chair.
Minutes of Previous AGM:
Acceptance as true and accurate record
Moved: John Kerby Seconded: Leanne Seymour
Welcome and acknowledgement of the traditional owners of the land – by Joshua
Hinchcliffe.
Chairpersons report:
Presented by Robert Mulcahy
Acknowledged special guest – Julie Owen MP.
Robert acknowledged the high demand and small number of resources. Robert also
thanked Peter Prance for the funding support of Community Services.
Robert thanked Holroyd City Council for the premises WHY currently operates in.
Robert also discussed the Boards plans to build the business possibly through a
merger with another organisation.
Robert also personally acknowledged the staff over the past 12 months, thanking them
for their hard work and dedication.
Accept Report from Chair
Proposed – John Kerby
Moved – Leanne Seymour
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Staff Report:
Tabled and presented by Debra Ireson
Debra spoke of the partnerships formed with various agencies including Holroyd
Youth Services, Co-location with Parramatta/Holroyd MRC.
Debra highlighted the increase in numbers of ATSI and CALD background referrals
this past year.
Debra thanked the Team of Staff and the Board for all their dedication and efforts
throughout the year.
In closing, Debra is looking forward to growing in the next 12 months and beyond to
help the young people who come into our service.
Accept Staff Report
Proposed – Cheryl Barrett
Moved – Paul Palakattu
Financial Report:
Tabled and presented by John Kerby
John commended Debra and WHY Staff for the work they do with the limited funding
we are provided.
John also thanked Paul our bookkeeper and Stephen Sproats (Auditor) for their
generous and effective work.
John highlighted the healthy balance sheet, and the difficulty to put the money to
work to expand the business.
Financial Results for year ending June 2012
Proposed by Kerry-Anne Brown
Moved by Ash Castro
Nominations for Stephen Sproats to remain as auditor for 2012 were put forward.
Moved: Paul Palakattu
Second: Josh Hinchcliffe
Election of Board:
All positions were declared vacant and the Chair stepped aside to hand over to the
return officer – Cheryl Barrett.
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Nomination for Board Members:
Robert Mulcahy
Joshua Hinchcliffe
John Kerby
Nominated
Nominated
Nominated
Accepted by all
Accepted by all
Accepted by all
See Nomination forms attached.
No other nominations from the floor to Board.
All Declared Elected by Cheryl Barrett of Affordable Community Housing.
Staff Presentation:
Mark presented information on the daily activities of a Youth Housing Worker and
some of the challenges and rewards of working with young people.
Other business:
Client Presentation – Bianca Miller
Bianca spoke about the stability and opportunity that she has received from WHY and
thanked staff for the work with her and other tenants. Bianca plans to be a Youth
Worker and is currently studying.
Robert thanked Bianca for this inspiring presentation.
Meeting closed at 5.50pm
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Chairpersons Report
I am pleased to provide this report on Western Housing for Youth Limited for
year ended 30th June, 2013.
The last year has seen a significant growth in the demand for accommodation
services.
Unfortunately demand for our accommodation services continues to far
exceed our ability to provide accommodation for young people in need. Due to
resource constraints we have been able to meet only 7.03% (2012 8.82%) of
applications made.
Referrals continue to be mainly self-driven or from other community
organisations and government agencies. The most common age at time of
referral is 17 and 18 years of age.
A total of 370 young people plus an additional 20 accompanying children were
seeking access to our services. This is the second highest annual level of
demand for services since 1999.
Twenty three young people who utilised the accommodation services were
able to “graduate” onto more permanent arrangements for independent living
or returning to their family home or friends. Three young people were
successful in attaining accommodation with a Community Housing provider.
As in prior years the graduation of young people was generally achieved
following their successful completion of structured programs provided by WHY
or its partners, that on average are completed over a 46 week period.
The Board has remained focused on increasing the accommodation options
available to young people in the Western Suburbs of Sydney. This has been
difficult to achieve however we do believe that some good options have been
identified by working with our partners and we endeavour to realise these
options at earliest opportunity.
Management have been successful in building and maintaining partnerships
that benefit the young people in our accommodation program.
We thank our key service partners:
•
•
•
•
Evolve Housing (formerly Affordable Community Housing Ltd)
The Hills Holroyd Parramatta Migrant Referral Centre
Ability Options and,
Holroyd Youth Centre.
We would also like to thank the many other services that we work closely with,
including Parramatta Mission, High Street Health Service, Evolve Housing
and Parramatta Street Outreach who are service partners through different
Youth interagencies and partnerships.
In addition we greatly value the long term support provided by various
government services including:
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•
•
•
•
•
Holroyd City Council
Parramatta City Council
NSW Family and Community Service – Housing NSW - Community
and Private Market Housing
NSW Family and Community Services – Community Services
NSW Family and Community Services – Housing NSW
On behalf of the board, I would like to thank our manager, Debby Ireson for
her ongoing commitment to the young people of Western Sydney. Also to
thank the current staff Leanne Seymour, Kerry-Anne Brown and Mark
Andrews and Casual staff for their diligent work in meeting the day to day
business requirements.
I want to again thank the board for their contribution over the year, especially
John Kerby and Joshua Hinchcliffe.
I wish the board and the staff all the best for the coming year, and thank
everyone for their ongoing support for WHY, and for the young people that it
supports.
Regards
Bob Mulcahy
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Board Biographies
Robert Mulcahy
Robert has held a number of Executive and Management positions in
Business and Not for Profit organisations.
Robert has a Master of Business Administration and Bachelor of Business Accounting. He is a graduate member of The Australian Institute of Company
Directors (GAICD) and Fellow of CPA Australia (FCPA).
His career has included many board appointments both in the community
sector and in the business sector.
Robert’s expertise includes Business Leadership, Risk Management and
Analysis, Business Development, Merger and Acquisitions and Strategic
Planning.
Robert has been our Chairperson this year.
Joshua Hinchcliffe
Joshua is a director of WHY.
He works as a psychologist at High Street Youth Health Service (HSYHS) as
an Alcohol & Other Drug Counsellor.
HSYHS is based in Harris Park and provides a range of health services for
marginalised, homeless and 'at-risk' young people aged 12-24 years in
Western Sydney.
He has been working with children and young people either
professionally or in a volunteer capacity for about 16 years
John Kerby
John completed a Bachelor of Commerce, majoring in Accountancy and an
MBA from Newcastle University in NSW Australia, in the early 1980’s. He is a
versatile, dynamic Executive who provides decisive leadership, management
and guidance with a proven ability to improve operations, impact business
growth and maximise profits through achievements in financial management,
cost reductions, internal controls, and productivity/efficiency improvements.
As a strong organiser, motivator and team player with an established record
of success and extensive experience he is confident that he can contribute
significantly to the increased wellbeing of any business that employs his
services.
During the course of his career spanning over 26 years he has held numerous
Senior Executive roles with companies based in Australia and the US. His
experience extends from Finance Director of a $150M shipbuilding firm in the
1980’s to Managing Director/Chief Financial Officer ANZ for a subsidiary of
the world’s largest independent training Company with an annual turnover of
in excess US$1 billion. He has had significant experience in various industry
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segments ranging from the manufacturing sector to human capital
development. All of these companies are considered the market leader in
their respective niche markets. These companies have ranged in size from
30 employees to over 800 direct employees plus 200 contractors.
He has been responsible for the financial and operational activities for
operations covering Australia, Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, Korea, China,
UK, NZ, and the USA. Also, He has established offshore operations in the UK,
NZ, South Africa, and France. As the CFO of various companies he has led
teams up to 65 people, covering areas such as Finance, Legal, HR,
Administration, Purchasing, Warehousing and IT. John has been responsible
for overseeing and negotiating contracts up to the value of $185M, liaising
with both internal and external stakeholders, been involved in the disposal of
non core companies/operations, mergers, acquisitions and joint ventures both
in Australia and overseas.
Whilst providing a stable and robust financial platform John has been able to
devise and implement strategic business plans that saw organisations grow
their businesses by approximately 300% over a four year period. This was
achieved in conjunction with increasing efficiencies and productivity whilst
preserving financial stability and integrity.
His career has allowed him to develop strong technical skills, instill best
practice finance, commercial and IT cultures underpinned by enhanced
systems, processes, policies and reporting. He is also experienced in the
areas of financial reporting, tax, treasury, interest rate and overseas currency
hedging, evaluation and implementation of ERP systems and WIP controls.
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Staff Biographies
Debra Ireson – Manager – Full time
Debra has spent 18 years working with WHY originally as a Youth Housing
Worker and as the Manager for over 10 years. She has a Bachelor & Masters
Degree in Counselling with a Diploma in Child Sexual Assault Counselling, a
Diploma in Management, and a Certificate IV in Community Housing
Management and Certificate IV in Mental Health.
Prior to joining WHY Debra worked for Juvenile Justice and Department of
Community Services. Debra has a strong commitment to social justice.
Debra has been on many Boards and Management Committees of community
services over the years. Debra is currently on the Youth Advisory Council with
Holroyd Council. Debra is passionate about working with young people and
maintaining a high standard of practice.
This year has seen Debra move away from direct work with clients and is now
focusing on the future development of the organisation, especially in relation
to the current Specialist Homelessness Services (SHS) reform, which is a
sector wide reform & partnership development.
Kerry-Anne Brown – Case Worker – Full time
Kerry began full-time employment with Western Housing for Youth on March
1, 2011, after a long career in education.
Kerry has attended a number of workshops and short courses including case
management, crisis management, mental health, responding to refugee
trauma related behaviours, sexual health, and working with people with
complex needs.
Kerry holds a Diploma in Child, Adolescent and Family Intervention and will
complete a Certificate IV in Mental Health next month.
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Mark Andrews – Case Worker – Part time
Mark has worked for the past 24 years in the youth sector working in crisis
medium term and semi-independent youth accommodation settings. He is
currently the part time Case Worker at WHY and has been working here since
March 2011
Prior to WHY Mark has worked in various youth accommodation services
including Fairfield Youth Accommodation Service. Wruwallin House Youth
Refuge and Penrith City Youth Refuge,
Mark has an associate Diploma in Youth Work 1988 from UWS Milperra,
Certificate IV in holistic Counseling and Certificate IV Union Recruitment,
organizing and Certificate IV in Training and Assessment. Mark has recently
obtained his first aid certificate and is currently studying a Certificate iv in
mental health.
Mark is committed to the rights of young people and assisting them to create
positive outcomes in their lives.
Leanne Seymour – Administration – part time
Leanne has been with Western Housing for Youth for a little over 3 years.
Leanne completed her Certificate IV in Community Services in December
2012. This course has provided her with greater knowledge of the
organisation and has given her a greater understanding of dealing with young
people.
Leanne is now studying a Certificate IV in Mental Health and is looking
forward to learning more to assist young people with their needs.
Leanne is enjoying working for Western Housing for Youth and looks forward
to helping the organisation grow and help young people well into the future.
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Service Report
The Service
Thirty five years ago a small group of people met in someone’s living room
and decided to do something to assist young women who had been taken into
care and were now being released into society. They sought out some
funding to enable them to rent a couple of flats where they would subsidies
the rent for young women leaving care. It was a pilot program and was called
Western Aftercare Flats. Later it became a company limited by guarantee and
later became known as Western Housing for Youth Ltd. (WHY)
The program was successful and has continued to grow. Today it provides
supported accommodation for up to 38 young people through growth in the
number of properties and through partnerships with other housing providers.
Supported Accommodation is done through three programs:
- The shared housing program which houses up to 25 clients in shared
housing.
- Bedsit project which is for 6 clients who have been in the shared housing
project and moved on to and gain further independence skills such as paying
for utilities and providing own furniture (usually with WHY assistance), that
they take on to non-supported independent accommodation in the future.
- Partnership housing with Evolve Community Housing Limited (formerly
Affordable Community Housing Ltd) where 7 tenants are provided support by
WHY and Evolve Housing provide the tenancy.
In recent years WHY has been funded under the Supported Accommodation
Assistance Program which is now called the Specialist Homelessness Service
(SHS). The SHS is currently under a reform and we are working to move with
the changes to secure WHY’s future under the reform to enable WHY to
continue to provide supported accommodation services and hopefully further
our ability to provide services in connection with partnerships with other
services and through internal service development.
WHY has completed compulsory re registration at Level 4, through the
Registrar of Community Housing (we received fully compliant status). While
level 4 currently limits us on the possibility of increasing stock under the new
system, WHY continues to seek other opportunities to increase both stock
and funding for additional programs and increased staffing levels. The current
registration system will change from the state system to a commonwealth
system which will be three tiered instead of four. This transition began July
2013.
A continued requirement for all young people receiving the Youth Allowance is
to be actively seeking employment or learning and make or required meetings
with Centrelink or have their allowance cancelled. This continues to raise
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issues for clients while they adjust from family break down, homelessness,
and illness without family supports in place. Independent youth incomes being
lower than those of adults living independently remains a big issue for clients,
especially around being financially secure with such limited incomes.
Our office in Merrylands continues to be a great location and is user friendly
for staff and clients alike. We continue to be very appreciative of Merrylands
Council for their provision of this office at a reduced rent. It has enabled us to
provide stronger services to our clients.
WHY continues to have a full complement of staff this year with Debra Ireson
remaining in the Managers position, Leanne Seymour in the Administration
Support Coordinator role, Kerry-Anne Brown in the full time Case Worker
position and Mark Andrews in the part time Case Worker position. Our
commitment this year has been to ensure our processes are in good working
order to help us be better placed for the current reforms throughout the sector.
WHY has continued to work towards its Strategic Plan throughout the year
and is looking to review this in the coming months to ensure that we are
strategically placed to work at the highest level through service provision and
hopefully enable growth to provide more services to clients.
WHY has seen some good partnerships developed throughout the year and is
continually working towards a holistic work practice or a one stop shop for
clients. We had an Employment and Training referral worker from Ability
Options one day a week and have one worker from the Hills, Holroyd, and
Parramatta Multi-Cultural Centre over two days a week working from our
office to provide support and assistance to our clients while building up both
our and their profile within the area. We also have strong links with Holroyd
Youth Services who are based next door and are able to link clients with
homework support, and other services.
WHY continues to look at Partnership options to provide the best possible
range of services to clients and the sector. WHY have sort partnerships with
Community Housing services to better meet the needs of the changing
climate of the sector and to continue to provide strong client focused housing
and support services. WHY have had a number of discussions with other
services to develop greater connections and is continuing to pursue these
options. This is done to ensure that as change is foreseen or required WHY
can meet the changing needs of this service, our clients and the sector
generally.
As always it has been a big year and we are now working towards
streamlining services, providing a more holistic approach to service provision,
and working towards developing opportunities to improve the services of WHY
for the future. WHY has conducted a review this year of our client files, Case
Management and data systems to improve and streamline the systems to
ensure they are being correctly utilised to better document and plan services
for the young people of our service.
We have continued to rise to the challenges of the year and move ahead
strongly with a supportive Staff and Board of Directors.
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Accommodation
Accommodation is provided across a range of properties which include
houses, bedsitters and units in the local government areas of Parramatta,
Holroyd and Auburn.
WHY have 25 beds for young people in shared accommodation. They are
provided as 3 x 4 bedroom, 2 x 3 bedroom and 2 x 2 bedroom properties
through Office of Community Housing Capital Assistance Program, 1 x 3
bedroom property rented from Parramatta Council. We thank Parramatta
council for continuing to lease us this property at a reduced rate.
WHY also has 6 bedsits rented through Housing NSW. The bedsits are
offered to current long-term tenants of WHY, who have, through their time at
the service, developed the skills and demonstrated the ability to live more
independently. These tenants are responsible for their own electricity
accounts. It is a transitional process for these tenants, many of whom have
gone on to community housing or into private rental. We continue to be
extremely thankful to Housing NSW for their provision of properties and
support to WHY.
WHY has a partnership with Evolve Community Housing Ltd whereby Evolve
Housing provides a further 7 properties and manages the tenancy aspect and
WHY provides ongoing support to a further 7 clients. Through this program we
have seen clients move on to fully independent accommodation and a number
have begun families and moved onto Affordable Rental Programs as they are
at the beginning of their working lives and are on low or moderate incomes.
We are very pleased to be working with Evolve Housing and are grateful for
the opportunities they provide some of our young people.
Young people accepted into WHY are housed under the Residential Tenancy
Act and sign an identical lease that they would if entering the private rental
market, with a few additional terms in relation to support and shared housing.
Learning about the rights and responsibility of tenancy is a key learning area
for our tenants.
Tenants are charged a rebated rent according to their income (25% plus
$10.00 per week). This covers their rent and other expenses. They must pay
for their own food and personal needs. A bond equal to 4 weeks market rent
is also payable at the beginning of their tenancy in the shared housing and
Bedsit programs and is passed on to the Rental Bond Board in the tenant’s
name as per the lease requirements.
In the shared housing project the tenants have to share a house with one to
three other young people depending on the number of usable bedrooms at
each property. Each tenant has their own room with a lock on their individual
doors. WHY provides basic furnishings, bed, bed-linen, washing machine,
fridge and kitchenware in our shared housing program. Sharing a house is not
an easy thing to do especially as it is with strangers, so there are weekly
house meetings to monitor how things are going, to raise issues early to try to
develop ways to deal with these issues so they do not develop in to issues
that mean someone or all have to move on as living together is no longer an
option.
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All tenants are required to attend regular case management meetings with
their Case Worker to ascertain their needs and aspirations and help them to
locate and access appropriate services to achieve their goals. This is done on
a fortnightly or monthly meeting depending on the needs of the clients, and
may be less frequent for the tenants in our community housing placements as
they require less support as their independence develops. WHY always has
an open door philosophy with both its existing clients and those who have left
the service, in that they can contact at any time for support and/or referral for
issues that arise which they need assistance with.
For young people who have been in crisis and moving from place to place
WHY provides stable and safe accommodation and an opportunity to get on
with their lives. This may involve getting back into the education system,
accessing training and acquiring skills to facilitate entry to the workplace, or
even a chance to reconnect with family after a family breakdown.
WHY’s focus remains on Case Management and Tenancy Support and we
are now trying to create more partnerships to provide more services in house
to clients of WHY. The Manager role continues to identify opportunities to
secure other funding, develop stronger partnerships, increase resources and
further diversify the service in the future to meet the changing needs of
clients, service and sector. This is of significant importance in light of SHS
reform and working with other services in partnership ensures that WHY will
be in a strong position to incorporate and manage the reform changes as they
develop.
WHY has been working on developing partnerships with the Parramatta Youth
Interagency (a working party of the Parramatta Homelessness initiative) and
has sort funding under the SHS reform (now confirmed successful) to develop
stronger partnerships in working with individual clients to better provide wrap
around services, ensure partners better use the resources within the
partnership and to deliver better services to clients.
WHY is also working on a partnership agreement with a Youth Health Service
to provide support services to each individual client from intake through their
stay with WHY. In return WHY will provide a number of spaces for this service
to allocate and case manage clients identified by the Youth Health Service,
this will be done to create better pathways for clients in relation to health and
supported accommodation.
Work with tenants
During this financial year we received 370 referrals (plus 20 accompanying
children) and were only able to house 26 of them which shows only 7.03%
ability to accommodate.
We have a priority for those who are 18 years and under and nearly 70.83%
were of this category when housed. We had 23 existing tenants at the
beginning of this year so this brings the total number of young people worked
with throughout the year to 51. A further 10 tenants have resided in our
Evolve Housing partnership properties. We had 97 young people under
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assessment and some turned out to be inappropriate and some did not follow
through but 26 were accommodated.
Housing stock continues to be difficult to obtain, due to the new registration
system WHY is level 4, which means we are not a growth organisation. WHY
is engaged in continued talks with a number of Community Housing
Organisations to partnership with to help with this issue.
WHY continues to be committed to increasing exit housing and we are
continually trying to identify more exit housing points that are affordable for
young people on low incomes. As this is becoming increasingly difficult, WHY
continues to look at ways the service can respond to the changing needs by
trying to provide more independent housing options through the DOH Bedsit
project and through support agreements with Evolve Community Housing
(formerly Affordable Community Housing Ltd).
We have continued to provide the Bedsit project with donated furniture,
furnishings and white goods, which clients, when moving on to independent
accommodation can take with them. This has proved to be successful and
the local community has been very generous to our service. We continue to
use the double garage at one of our properties for the storage of these goods.
Staffing
During the year, Debby has remained in the Manager position. We have
Kerry-Anne in the fulltime Case Worker position and Mark in the Part time
Case Worker position. Leanne is in the Part time Administration Coordinator
role. We also had Alex who filled in on a casual basis.
We have a full complement of staff and they are all committed to strong
service provision and working towards a more successful service through
professional service delivery and are very commitment to WHY and its clients.
We continue to ensure our staff further develop their skills, as it is important to
the organisation. WHY has a commitment to encourage staff to attend training
and further develop their skills and knowledge.
All staff are completing Certificate IV Mental Health. This has been identified
as a much needed gap in our training considering the high level of mental
health issues we are currently seeing with our young people.
Computers/Technology
The Tenant Management System (TMS) continues to be working well and
provides instant tenancy reports for clients. Our computer systems are
automatically backed up off site to avoid loss of information, by way of
encrypted data to maintain security. WHY remains very grateful to our
computer genius Phil Cassidy who regularly rescues us from the glitches and
gremlins associated with the computers. Although Phil has this year sold his
business to a larger firm, this will make the system more secure as it is an
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organisation not a solo person managing it, and Phil will continue with the new
organisation for a period of time to maintain a smooth transition.
We continue to use the SHIP to SHORE data system, which is working well
and allows us to keep all of our client files within this system creating a more
secure and accurate system of keeping client information. This new system is
more user friendly and allows reports to be generated to see what we are
doing and what we are not. This makes it easier for all to keep information
up to date and help set up good time management practices. A review of this
system has taken place to ensure that we are using the new system to the full
and we have rectified the issues that arose, which were minor.
Grants
We have been successful in securing funding through StreetSmart for
Christmas food funding for each client, this enabled WHY to provide grocery
only gift cards to clients at the holiday season and these gifts are sometimes
the only gifts given over this holiday season. WHY is culturally sensitive at
this time and provides these gifts in the spirit of the holiday season not for any
religious reason and clients are informed of this and so far all gifts have been
accepted in the holiday spirit. This type of financial support can also be quite
beneficial as clients can be under greater financial stress at this time of year.
We would like to take this opportunity to thank StreetSmart for funding the
grocery gift cards which will provide support to clients at a time of year where
clients are vulnerable.
We were also fortunate to receive a grant from Club Merrylands Bowling
through the Clubs Grant for driving lessons for our clients last financial year
and this will continue through the coming financial year as our partnership
with a community driving school, hit a few problems with the driving school not
operating throughout most of the financial year due to unforeseen
circumstances, and is now back in operation.
For this we continue to be truly grateful to Club Merrylands Bowling for
funding this project and take this opportunity to say thank you from the Staff
and Clients of WHY.
We are also currently awaiting feedback on funding for projects for which we
have applied. They are the development of a new user friendly and
informative website through Club Grants and National Crime prevention
funding for a Tell their stories crime prevention project, in partnership with
Evolve Housing.
We would also like to thank the GIVIT Virtual Warehouse who helped us with
donations of blankets throughout the year.
Outreach and Exit Housing
WHY has a commitment to clients who have moved on from the service and
support their move to fully independent living. We offer assistance in locating
other services able to help with bonds and furniture, financial assistance with
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utility connections, assistance to move, and storage needs, if required. We
continue support and advocate as required by the client, along with providing
information about client's rights and responsibilities.
We arrange assistance with bonds through Housing NSW and brokerage
services. We supply information on tenancy rights and responsibilities. We
can also help financially by assisting with 50% of utility bonds if required, or
accessing brokerage money from relevant services.
A number of ex-clients keep in contact with the service and still seek
information, support and referral to other services, and from WHY.
Exit housing is part of the generalist Case Workers duties, with the support,
assistance and follow-up of clients who have left the service being provided
within the service resources.
The service continues to assist in locating appropriate, affordable alternative
housing options for our tenants. Traditionally, Housing NSW has been seen
as the main alternate housing provider for our clients, however with waiting
lists continually rising, we use our connections/partnerships with other
services like Evolve Community Housing Ltd to help clients who need low cost
accommodation. While this is more difficult now with the introduction of the
common waiting list, we are finding that a number of our clients who have
secured employment are eligible for Affordable housing programs with many
Community Housing organisations and this has become a great alternative to
the more costly private market where low to moderate income earners pay
75% of market rent under this program.
We are also on a committee with HUME Community Housing for a
Social/Community Housing project to provide 12 months accommodation for
clients with support in place and strong links to long term housing after the 12
months with HUME, while none of WHY’s clients have been appropriate for
this project as yet, WHY continue to be on the committee. The project has
seen a number of homeless people gain accommodation through this project.
We thank HUME for being innovative in this projects development and
including services like WHY in its development and ongoing assessment and
review.
We assist in locating private rental accommodation, share accommodation,
boarding houses, caravan parks, all of which have had a notable increase in
rental costs and gets more difficult as the years go on, mostly for affordability.
It continues to be difficult to find private accommodation as landlords and real
estate agents are reluctant to take on young people in tenancies. WHY
continues to seek information from other services/networks in relation to
building relationships with agents and landlords directly to see what works
and to then to develop a plan to implement this type of program here at WHY,
although at this stage we have discovered that many agents and landlords are
still reluctant to take on Community Groups or low income youth, but will
continue to seek partnerships/connections. We assist in completing
application forms, advocating and networking with Community Housing
Associations.
20
We assist tenants when they relocate through identifying relevant community
resources in the client’s new area and networking with these services. This
is done to increase the clients support in the area and hopefully continue
support for clients to remain in more independent accommodation without the
need to return to a more supported service.
Our commitment to clients who have left the service is a type of early
intervention in relation to helping them successfully enter and maintain
independent living with appropriate supports in place.
Work with Other Young People
WHY continues to support clients who are not tenants and will most likely not
become tenants. These are young people who are trying to find
accommodation but do not meet our criteria. They may come to the office,
phone in, or be referred by another service or person. They may require
assistance like access to a phone, or information on tenancy rights or referral
to other services. WHY gives information, support and advocates on behalf of
these casual clients where needed. This is in the hope that while we cannot
assist with Housing, we do help to ensure that these people do not fall
through the cracks and not get the assistance they require and/or become or
remain homeless or at further risk of homelessness.
Community Development
Community development remains part of the Case Workers' and Managers
job descriptions. We work with a disadvantaged and often powerless group.
We continue to inform and advocate for change to the social forces that
maintain these conditions, which include violence, unemployment, youth
income, inequality, racism, sexism, or lack of resources.
We continue to network, advocate, update information and join working
parties and have continued involvement at local, state, and federal levels on
relevant issues.
WHY have a support partnerships with OZ harvest and The Ansaar Project
(who provide Halal food) both donate food for our clients and we would like to
thank them for the continued invaluable service they provide to WHY and
other services like us, it really makes a big difference to the clients and their
diets. We also have access to Foodbank which provides food at a greatly
reduced cost.
WHY have continued to work on professional relationship building this year,
with service visits and information sharing opportunities with other
organisations in the area. This has assisted in developing partnerships with
relevant services. Representations include attendance at Parramatta Regional
Homelessness meetings, Holroyd Youth Advisory Committee, Yfoundations
meetings, Parramatta Council Homelessness Strategy meetings, Youth
Education and Training Initiative (YETI) and visits to other services in the area
who refer young people to us or who could provide exit points or other support
services clients may need.
21
WHY is also working with Parramatta Regional Homelessness Interagency –
Youth Working Group who are trying to improve the way services work with
common clients and develop better pathways to provide wrap around services
to clients, by local services working closer together through documented
working agreements.
This Youth Working Group applied for funding through the SHS reform
Industry Development Fund in April, with WHY as the auspicing body for this
project and we have since been successful in acquiring funds. We gratefully
thank the Peak Bodies and Family and Community Services for this
innovation grant. This will enable us to engage a consultant to identify
stronger partnerships and pathways between working group members to
ensure better service delivery in the area for young people.
WHY and High Street Youth Health Service have also been working on a
working partnership that will see the services working closer together to help
address both health and housing needs of clients in our area. This
partnership will see stronger links and supported pathways for clients of both
services to access better wrap around services.
WHY partnership with Holroyd Youth Service continues to strengthen our
working partnership through support of common clients, service support in
relation to seeking Grant applications and we are also completing training
(Cert IV Mental Health) together.
While Partnerships take time to develop and strengthen, they allow WHY to
provide a greater range of services in partnership and have a larger more
usable referral base for the support of our clients and our service. WHY also
provide support for other services clients and services wherever we can be of
assistance. This is a two Way Street, which helps strengthen the sector and
area greatly.
Key Issues for the Service
Key issues continue to be limited housing stock and the lack of appropriate
affordable exit housing points for tenants. Our records show that we continue
to only be able to house a low percentage of our referrals. In conjunction with
this, the need for increased staffing levels to cope with the demand the
service encounters, prior to being able to offer any further supported
accommodation, continues.
It is also becoming more common that we are unable to house young people
due to their high complex needs as we are limited by staffing levels and the
fact that we currently only offer semi supported or transition housing/support.
This is why we continually seek to work in partnerships with other
organisations and apply for available funding to be able to offer a greater
range of service to our clients.
We continue to struggle finding appropriate affordable exit housing for clients.
It remains extremely difficult to get a landlord or real estate agent to take on
young people in private rental, rent is continuously rising and there is a
22
current rental shortage. Young people on a low income find it unaffordable to
live in the private rental market independently and this can be made even
more difficult if they do not have the independent living skills as well.
We continue to work closely with our local Community Services office, and we
would like to thank them, especially our Community Project Officer (CPO)
Ozen Karanlik and Director of Partnership and Planning (DPP) Peter Prants
for their continued support of WHY and its clients.
WHY would also like to thank both the Office of Community Housing and
Housing NSW for their ongoing support of WHY and it’s clients through their
provision of properties for WHY’s use.
The need for a brokerage project within the Parramatta area continues to be
even more of a priority then ever before. WHY would like to thank those
brokerage services who do assist us both Marist Youth Care and Cabramatta
Community Centre which are both located outside the Parramatta area and
whose funding itself is limited. We thank them for their support. Clients in this
area have little access to financial assistance with rental bonds, utility
connections, education costs, clothing or food.
A recent announcement of the closure of Parramatta Street Outreach Service
in the near future will also have an impact on this area. This will see the loss
of generalist, case management and other support for homeless youth in the
area. It is expected with the upcoming closure of this service and the fact that
they provide services to over 500 individuals each year, this will have major
impacts on the numbers of clients who will now seek support from other
services in the area who are already struggling to meet demand including
WHY. As a community sector we are working to develop ways we can support
these clients in terms of referral throughout the wider community networks.
WHY has also seen an increased need for supported accommodation
services for young people who are over 17 years of age, who do not have
independent living skills through lack of education, developmental reasons,
mental health issues or any other reason, where they are unable to live
independently or in semi independent living. We are finding high numbers of
young people who need more support referring to us and there are no
appropriate facilities/services for them within the constraints of what WHY
offers or with outside appropriate services with greater support options for this
age group. They need 24 hour support (or higher levels support) to develop
the skills required to move to semi-independent and/or independent living in
the future. For this reason WHY continues to advocate for the need for these
types of services, because if we do not put the time into these young people
now, they will no doubt require assistance for most of their lives with
accommodation and support.
Low youth incomes remain a key issue for the service and our clients. With
youth incomes below the adult rates, we continue to advocate that it is just as
expensive for a young person to live independently, as it is for someone over
25 years of age. We will continue to advocate for youth incomes to be brought
in line with the rest of Centrelink incomes. We will also continue to advocate
for appropriate youth minimum wages. Youth incomes make it difficult for
23
young people to live independently, without the support of community housing
services like WHY who can provide a subsidized rental system.
The future
A commitment to increasing housing stock continues to be difficult due to the
increasing level of support necessary for staff to offer to our current tenants.
With the disappearance of SAAP ( now under SHS) and new policies on
solving homelessness and the housing crisis coming from both State and
Federal Governments it is an interesting time to be in this industry. SHS is
currently under reform and there are a lot of changes that will face the sector.
Firstly we will need to look at our operation as we have been informed that we
will need to become solely responsible for our properties including the
ongoing and cyclical maintenance associated with this. This will be achieved
by allocating rents received to this process. This loss of this rental income to
provide support services (as currently and historically has occurred) means
we may need to become more creative in how we provide services and how
we manage our budgets in the future. We will also be required to implement
the Commonwealth Rental Assistance (CRA) system and claim these funds
for the maintenance of the properties.
There is also discussion of reallocation of funding generally and this is being
reallocated by region. This may also impact on our funding, although it is
unclear at this time how this will affect us. It has yet to be confirmed if we will
continue to have ongoing funding or if the sector will have a larger shake up
have to retender for ongoing funds in the future. (It has recently been
confirmed that we will have to retender for funding through a staged process
later in 2013).
The SHS reform will be a key issue for WHY and the sector generally over the
coming year with a great deal of change expected. WHY is keeping abreast
of these changes as they are identified and will endeavour to implement these
as required to meet the requirements of the reform, while maintaining high
levels of service provision to the clients that access WHY.
WHY has maintained its Housing Registration as a Level 4 Provider, which
does mean under the current system we are not eligible to increase housing
stock as only 1 and 2 registered providers are eligible for this. This current
system is a State system and will be moving to a Commonwealth system in
the next year. This should be less complicated for NSW members as the
Commonwealth system seems to be broadly based on the previous NSW
system. There will be three tiers under the new Commonwealth system and it
is expected we will be in tier 3.
There are limits in turnover of tenants due to the lack of appropriate exit points
and high costs of private rental. Extending our partnerships with Community
Housing Organisations would be a viable option, and is one that WHY is
concentrating on at this time. Increasing staff to provide services to clients
remains high on the WHY agenda and the ability to have ongoing funding to
provide this remains difficult in the current financial climate. WHY continues to
develop partnerships and working alliances with Community Housing to
increase the opportunities for clients.
24
WHY continues to look at a range of new and innovative housing strategies
and partnerships. These include looking at other housing programs both
overseas and within Australia. Working with other organisations to increase
services and support to our clients. WHY continues developing partnerships
that will assist in creating more services both in our local area and in the
greater Western Sydney and Youth Sector in general.
WHY continues to provide basic living skills training around many issues,
these include tenancy issues and management, shared living skills, conflict
resolution, house hold cleaning, general food handling and preparation,
creating CV’s, job interview skills, budgeting, social interaction skills, and
anything else that is raised as an issue where staff can assist with. If we are
not able to assist, we look to our greater community to find an appropriate
service that has these skills to assist our clients and refer them on.
We have received funding through the SHS reform Industry Development
Fund to help us better develop the partnerships in our area to provide wrap
around services more effectively. This will create a more holistic approach to
service provision for clients of our services and help clients more easily
access the supports they require through stronger pathways.
To all the Supporters and Support Partners of WHY we thank you for your
invaluable support.
A big thank you should go out to all our funding bodies including Family and
Community Services - Community NSW and Housing NSW.
We would also like to thank our other in kind financial support partners who
include Holroyd and Parramatta councils.
WHY would also like to thank our contractors D & P Pty Ltd for cleaning
services and SR Construction for repairs and maintenance.
Also a thank you to all the services who have worked in partnership/networks
and connection with WHY and its clients over the year, there are too many to
individually thank but a couple of notable ones are our in house partners
Parramatta, Hills, Holroyd Multi-Cultural Centre and formal partners Evolve
Housing, Holroyd Youth Centre, Parramatta Mission, High Street Youth
Health Service, and Parramatta Street Outreach and the Youth Working
Group of the Parramatta Regional Homelessness Interagency.
All the Staff at WHY would like to extend our greatest thanks to the Board of
Directors for their interest, support and assistance. They are all busy people
and we appreciate their continued dedication, time and experience to support
this service, especially as it is in a volunteer capacity.
Also Heather Dalby & Philip Hilder for their continued expert management of
our supervision sessions, their objective perspective on current issues facing
staff is always extremely valuable.
We would like to thank our contractors Paul (bookkeeping) and Lindsey
(Maintenance) for all their work throughout the year.
25
We also would like to thank Wentworth Housing as the Housing NSW
delegated maintenance organisation for WHY’s properties.
WHY’s strength is its staff and I personally would like to take this opportunity
to thank the Staff here at WHY, both permanent and casual. It is only with
their dedication and hard work that this service operates at such a high level
of client support and service provision. I fully appreciate and thank them for
all the hard work they do.
We as always look forward to the coming year and beyond in a very positive
and professional manner, with great hope that this service will not only be
better, but will be a leader in best practice the sector.
Debra Ireson
Manager
WHY
26
WHY Statistics 2012 – 2013
Summary
During 2012-2013 WHY received 370 (+ 20 accompanying children) referrals.
WHY housed 26 of the referrals which was 7.03% of overall demand.
Reasons to not house referrals included, inappropriateness of referral
(including needing Crisis and age) and failure to complete assessment.
WHY’s main source of referrals were self-referrals with community or nongovernment service coming in a close second.
65.95% (244) of referrals were 18 or under. (142 females and 102 males)
Largest group to refer in males was 18 years and females were 17 years.
ATSI referrals (7.84%) and CALD referrals (24.05%) ATSI referrals decreased
slightly on last year and CALD increased slightly.
WHY housed 51 tenants this year. WHY has housed 5 more females than
males.
53.84% of female tenants housed this year were 18 and under and 30.77% of
males were 18 and under.
Of the 26 new tenants 42.30% are from CALD background and 3.85% were
from an ATSI background.
23 tenants left during the year. Of these10 returned to family or friends, 6
went on to more independent living.
The shortest stay for a tenant was 2.5 weeks and the longest was 100.4
weeks.
27
STATISTICS ON REFERRALS RECEIVED DURING YEAR 2012-2013
Table 1
Number of referrals to WHY 1999 to 2013
Period
Referrals
Referrals not
Accommodated
accommodated
Years
Number
%
Number
%
1998 –
21
5.9
351
94.1
99
1999 –
31
10.7
258
89.3
00
2000 –
31
8.42
337
91.58
01
2001 –
36
12.72
247
87.28
02
2002 –
36
19.05
153
80.95
03
2003 –
28
11.81
209
88.19
04
2004 –
30
13.64
190
86.36
05
2005 –
34
12.10
247
87.9
06
2006 –
29
10.98
235
89.02
07
2007 –
20
5.9
372
94.1
08
2008 –
35
10.4
301
89.6
09
2009 26
7.51
320
92.49
10
201024
7.57
317
92.43
11
201124
8.82
248
91.18
12
20122013
26
7.03
344
92.97
Total
Number
372
%
100
289
100
368
100
283
100
189
100
237
100
220
100
281
100
264
100
392
100
336 + 16
babies
346 + 6
babies
341+15
babies
272 + 14
accompanying
children
370+20
100
100
100
100
100
During 2012-2013 WHY received 370 referrals. WHY Housed 26 of the
referrals, meeting 7.03% of the overall demand. Last year we had lower than
normal number of referrals due to an error in collection process but this still
shows from the previous year that our referrals are increasing.
28
Table 2
Reasons for not accommodating 1/7/12 – 30/6/13
(Figures in brackets are 2011-2012 figures)
Reason for non
Number
Percentage
accommodation
No vacancy
20 (18)
5.81
Didn’t complete
35 (14)
10.17
assessment
Too old
32 (20)
9.30
Too young
7 (5)
2.03
Inappropriate
73 (40)
21.23
service/location
Needed crisis
52 (39)
15.13
Had children
12 (14)
3.49
Couples
24 (17)
6.98
State Ward
18 (5)
5.23
Waitlist not
71 (76)
20.36
followed through
Total
344 (248)
100.00
Main reason for non accommodation is inappropriate service/location followed
by did not complete assessment or not following through once being put on
the waitlist, which can be due to a number of factors, inappropriate referral,
needing more support, or wanting another type of accommodation to name a
couple of reasons.
Table 3
Source of referrals 1/7/12-30/6/13
Source of referral
Number
Self
138
Percentage
37.30
Community/Non Gov
Govern Orgs
Friend/family
Juvenile Justice (jail)
Other
Total
35.95
8.11
2.97
0.54
15.13
100.00
133
30
11
2
56
370
Main source of referrals is community/non-government services followed by
self referral.
29
Table 4
Age of referrals 1/7/12-30/6/13
Age-years
Female
Male
Under 16
8 (5)
5 (0)
16
28 (25)
17 (10)
17
56 (35)
37 (40)
18
50 (40)
43 (39)
19
33 (29)
23 (17)
20
17 (12)
17 (10)
21 and over
11 (5)
25 (13)
Unknown
0 (5)
0 (3)
Total
203
167
Total
13 (5)
45 (35)
93 (59)
93 (79)
56 (46)
34 (22)
36 (18)
0 (8)
370
Percentage
3.51
12.16
25.14
25.14
15.14
9.18
9.73
0.00
100.00
Largest group referred for females were 17 years and for males is 18 years.
Our youngest unaccompanied referral was a 15 years (a male and a female)
and eldest referral was a male 46 years.
Table 5
Cultural background of referrals where known 1/7/12-30/6/13
Gender
Ab/TSI
%
CALD
%
Total
Female
Male
Total
21 (12)
8 (17)
29 (29)
5.68
2.16
7.84
44 (27)
45 (36)
89 (63)
11.89
12.16
24.05
65
53
118
% of
Total
17.57
14.32
31.89
We have had an increase in persons identifying as CALD referrals this year.
Table 6
Referrals aged 18 and under 1999-2013
Period
Total Number of
Number of
referrals
Referrals 18
years and under
1/7/99 – 30/6/00
289
219
1/7/00 – 30/6/01
368
192
1/7/01 – 30/6/02
283
157
1/7/02 – 30/6/03
189
102
1/7/03 – 30/6/04
237
158
1/7/03 – 30/6/05
220
169
1/7/02 – 30/6/06
281
168
1/7/06 – 30/6/07
264
157
1/7/07 – 30/6/08
392
239
1/7/08 – 30/6/09
336
196
1/7/09 – 30/6/10
346
203
1/7/10 – 30/6/11
341
211
1/7/11 – 30/6/12
272
178
1/7/12 – 30/6/13
370
244
% of Referrals 18
years and under
75.7
52.1
55
53.97
66.66
76.82
59.79
59.47
60.96
58.33
58.67
61.88
65.44
65.94
Of the 244 referrals of young people aged 18 years and under, 142 of these
were female and 102 were male.
30
STATISTICS ON TENANTS HOUSED DURING YEAR
Table 7
Gender of tenants housed 1/7/12 – 30/6/13
Gender
Existing Previous New
Previous
Tenants Year
Tenants Year
Female
Male
Total
12
13
25
9
12
21
16
10
26
10
14
24
Total
Number of
Tenants
housed in
2012/13
28
23
51
Total
Previous
Year
19
26
45
WHY housed 51 tenants this year and supported another 3 new and 7
existing tenants in the community housing.
Table 8
Age of new tenants at time tenancy commenced 1/7/12 – 30/6/13
Age/Years Number of Number of Total
%
Previous
Females
Males
Number
Year total
number
16
4
0
4
15.38
2
17
7
3
10
38.46
3
18
3
5
8
30.77
12
19
0
2
2
4.69
4
20
1
0
1
3.85
3
21
1
0
1
3.85
0
Total
16
10
26
100.00
24
Nearly 84.61 of tenants were 16-18 years at commencement of tenancy with
17 year olds the highest accommodated.
Table 9
Cultural background of new tenants 1/7/12-30/6/13
Gender
Ab/TSI
%
CALD
%
Female
1
3.85
4
15.38
Male
0
0.00
7
26.92
Total
1
3.85
11
42.30
Anglo/Celt
11
3
14
%
19.23
26.92
46.15
This table shows that we house a high percentage of persons from a CALD
background (42.30%) slightly up from last year (41.67%).
31
STATISTICS ON THE TENANTS WHO LEFT DURING THE YEAR
Table 10
Length of stay for tenants who left 1/7/12-30/6/13
Number of weeks
Number of tenants
1 – 10
5 (2)
11 – 20
2 (5)
21 - 30
4 (4)
31 – 40
2 (2)
41 – 50
0 (1)
51 – 60
2 (3)
61 – 70
2 (0)
71 – 80
2 (2)
81 – 100
2 (0)
Over 100
2 (4)
Total
23 (23)
Shortest stay 2.5 weeks
Percentage
21.72
8.70
17.38
8.70
0.00
8.70
8.70
8.70
8.70
8.70
100.00
Longest 100.4 weeks
Table 11
Where tenants went when exiting 2012-2013
Where they went
Number
Independent living
3
(6)*
Family
5
(5)*
Friends
5
(3)*
Other supported housing
3
(2)
Dept of Housing
0
(0)
Community Housing
3
(0)*
Prison
1
(1)
Overseas
0
(1)*
Unknown
3
(5)
Total
23 (23)
This shows that 69.57% (*) of clients are known to have gone on to more
independent living or returned to the family unit.
It should also be noted that 5 clients left the supported housing program
where clients are housed (tenants) with Evolve housing and 2 of these clients
went on to Affordable housing, one became an ongoing tenant of Evovle no
longer requiring support from WHY, one returned to family and one left with
whereabouts unknown.
32
Financial Reports
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
Directors Reports
43
44
Ministers Visit August 2013
45