The role of Common Ground Queensland extends beyond the provision and management of housing to effecting positive social impacts (refer Supportive Housing Policy). As a community housing provider who specialises in Supportive Housing, a key consideration is –proactively working to keep people housed rather than contributing to a ‘revolving door’ where tenants cycle through periods of housing and homelessness.
This involves assisting tenants to understand and meet lease obligations under the Residential Tenancies and Rooming Accommodation Act 2008 to avoid, where possible, issues resulting in breaches. It also involves working collaboratively with the on-site Support Provider (Micah Projects) and other agencies to improve the support services infrastructure to reduce disadvantage that can impact on capacity to sustain tenancies.
Common Ground Queensland is committed to working with tenants to maintain successful tenancies by ensuring that:
- Rights and responsibilities of both tenants and lessors as well as any special terms and conditions of the tenancy agreement and/or the housing assistance are upheld, e.g. conditions of tenancy;
- Issues arising during the tenancy are responded to in a supportive manner;
- Responses to issues arising are consistent with relevant legislation including the Residential Tenancies & Rooming Accommodation Act 2008, funding agreements and Common Ground Queensland’s own policies and procedures;
- There is a fair and transparent disputes system in place including how the organisation will deal with reports of harassment;
- Tenants are provided with the opportunity to ask questions, provide feedback and have input into decision making processes that may directly impact their tenancy;
- Orientation processes are designed to give new tenants a positive start to their tenancy;
- Particular attention is given to tenancies over the first three months to strengthen the tenancy (refer Strengthening New Tenancies Procedure);
- There is a strong partnership with Micah Projects and strong relationships are fostered with relevant state agencies, i.e. Queensland Emergency Services, Queensland Health, the Department of Child Safety, Youth and Family and the Department of Housing and Public Works.
Procedures that Implement
This policy will be actively implemented by adherence to the following procedures and documents:
- Communication with Tenants Procedure
- Ending a Tenancy Procedure
- Incident Management and Reporting Procedure
- Rent Arrears Management Procedure
- Starting a Tenancy Procedure
- Strengthening New Tenancies Procedure
- Sustaining Tenancies Procedure
- Tenancy Management (Residential) Procedure
- Tenant and Community Participation Procedure
- Tenant Compliments, Complaints and Appeals Procedure
- Tenant Feedback Procedure
- Tenant Transfer Procedure
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