Social Housing Community Improvement Fund

Published 8th December 2015

I wanted to draw your attention to a new $20 million grant program – the Social Housing Community Improvement Fund.
 
The program aims to create better and stronger social housing communities by improving local amenities through the provision of one off grants of up to $50,000 to physically improve areas adjacent to social housing. This includes:
improving community facilities
enhancing open space
increasing accessibility to improve resident safety
improvements to facilitate better integration between social housing and the surrounding community.
 
Applications can be made to improve any social housing community and will be assessed on merit against the program criteria.
 
For program purposes, ‘social housing’ means public or community housing.
 
A ‘social housing community’ means:
a multi dwelling site made up wholly of, or with a large proportion of, social housing dwellings; or
an estate where there is a significant presence of social housing dwellings; or
a location where there is a pocket of concentrated social housing.
 
Applications for the grant program opened on 9 November and will close on 18 December 2015.
 
For information about the application requirements, program criteria and the application process see:

http://community.grantready.com.au/Find_Grants/Search/index.aspx?itemDetails=13099
 
Or
 
http://www.facs.nsw.gov.au/reforms/social-housing-community-improvement-fund-shcif
 
The website includes Frequently Asked Questions and guidelines for potential applicants.
 
The program complements the Liveable Communities Grants Program, given one of its key objectives is to increase accessibility for older people and people with disability.