Housing NSW jobs in the Shoalhaven are at risk following a state government move to transfer the management of social dwellings to not-for-profits, the Public Service Association (PSA) says.
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The move, announced earlier this year as part of the government’s Future Directions reforms, will see the administration of 18,000 social houses shifted to Community Housing Providers (CHPs) over the next four years.
The management change affects properties in the Shoalhaven, Northern Sydney, Mid-North Coast and New England from next year.
The change won’t affect the Illawarra.
While CHPs – like the Wollongong-based Housing Trust – have welcomed the opportunity to take over the management of the Shoalhaven properties, the PSA fears for the existing Housing NSW employees.
Staff at the Shoalhaven Housing Office in Nowra are among 190 Department of Family and Community Services (FACS) housing jobs across NSW which will be affected by the reform.
PSA organiser Tony Heathwood said 17 staff at the Nowra office “have to retire or find another job elsewhere”.
“FACS is saying they will make every attempt to try and reposition those people into another agency of some sort, but I’m not sure how successful that will be,” Mr Heathwood said.
“Almost all of those people live in Nowra and work in Nowra. There may be some opportunity for them to move into the FACS office at Coniston, if there are any vacancies there, but at this stage we don’t know where they’re going or when.”
A spokeswoman for Social Housing Minister, Brad Hazzard, said 19 per cent of social housing in NSW was already managed by community providers and the transfer would bring an extra $1 billion of Commonwealth funding into the system.
“At a recent briefing, the Minister asked community providers to strongly consider the skills and knowledge of government housing staff during the transition as community housing ramps up its workforce.
‘’This was well received, and the community providers suggested a secondment program ahead of the transfer, to assist in finding new staff,” she said.