Homes North Community Housing held its "Growing into the Future" event upstairs in the Armidale Bowling Club on Monday morning aimed at meeting with local real estate agents and landlords, and to update the community about its projected growth in 2019.
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It was an event to launch Homes North's new leasehold program, which aimed to provide affordable housing to those in most need in the New England and the North West and was attended by about 30 people.
Our leasehold agreement is the most important thing. It was done in consultation with landlords ..."
- Maree McKenzie
CEO of Homes North Community Housing Maree McKenzie the program was when Homes North rented in the private market.
"We then sub-let for people who are eligible for social housing," she said.
"People who are financially constrained and have challenges sustaining their tenancies in the private market. They might have a disability, they might be elderly or they might be fleeing domestic violence, all sorts of reasons they might be on our waiting lists."
Maree said Homes North was a landlord similar to Housing NSW.
"Except we're not-for-profit," she said.
"In a way you could think of us as a social type of real estate. We still have a contract, which is a lease, but our other contract with government is to support those tenancies to make sure they are sustained."
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She said Homes North managed about 1000 houses in the New England North West and had won a tender to manage more housing next year, when it expected to receive another 1000 to 1800 residences.
With the doubling of its portfolio, Monday morning's get together could be seen as a very necessary meeting for Homes North. Occupying the ground somewhere between the landlord and the agent's bottom line, with the 'tenant first' mission statement of social housing is never easy.
"We've got 200 and something leases already across the New England/North West. It's a tough gig, but we do it," Maree said.
"We've got some investor landlords who know the mathematics of it, and that they get a good deal out of us, and they've build properties for us to lease out.”