Housing Act 1983 amendments
Questions and Answers
December 2016

Housing Act 1983 amendments

Questions and Answers, December 2016 2

What is the Housing Act 1983?

The Housing Act 1983 (the Act) is the legislation that is responsible for social housing in Victoria.

What has changed?

A change to the Act called The Housing Amendment (Victorian Housing Register and Other Matters) Bill 2016 (the Bill) passed parliament on 8 December 2016. It adds a new part to the Act, ‘Part VIIIA - Social Housing’. This part has two sections – one will relate to the Victorian Housing Register (the register) and the other to information sharing.

1.  The register: This part describes establishing and operating the register. This includes detail about authorising access to the register as well as the rules and requirements for its use.

2.  Information Sharing: This part relates to information sharing more broadly within the social housing sector to help disadvantaged Victorians achieve more sustainable housing outcomes.

The changes the Act also make sure that the new sections are linked to the current functions of the Registrar of Housing Agencies (the Registrar). These regulatory functions include when the Registrar's powers may be exercised and when the Registrar may give instructions to a registered agency.

A minor technical change has also been made to allow the delegation powers and functions currently held by the Director of Housing (the Director) to Department of Health and Human Services staff.

Why did the Act change?

These changes occurred for the register to function as planned.

The amendments also give statutory authority to the eligibility criteria and priority categories for the purposes of identifying the relative needs of eligible applicants that need to be considered when people are allocated housing from the register. This ensures that decisions relating to the register are made in a consistent, accountable and transparent way. This also ensures that prioritisation of housing applicants that are in priority categories, such as those aged 55 years or over, are in line with exemptions in the Equal Opportunity Act 2010 and the Age Discrimination Act 2004.

The changes also allow the Director, registered housing agencies and designated service providers to share relevant information in an authorised, transparent and lawful way. Information sharing means that the social housing and homelessness sector can help disadvantaged Victorians to access housing that best suits their safety, support and health needs.

How do the changes benefit applicants to the register?

Helping people better access housing that suits their safety, support and health needs is central to the changes to the Act.

The changes mean that:

•  Applicants can be considered for different types of housing from many providers through the register.

•  Applicants already on housing waiting lists can be moved over to the register without any disadvantage to their application. This means that if an applicant has more than one application, each one can be considered to work out a fair place on the register.

•  New applicants who choose to be considered for all types of social housing will only have to tell their story once through the streamlined application process.

Is more information available?

For more details about information sharing in the register visit: http://www.dhs.vic.gov.au/funded-agency-channel/about-service-agreements/program-requirements,-guidelines-and-policies2/victorian-housing-register

For information tailored for applicants visit www.housing.vic.gov.au/apply

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© State of Victoria, Department of Health and Human Services December, 2016
Available at http://www.dhs.vic.gov.au/funded-agency-channel/about-service-agreements/program-requirements,-guidelines-and-policies2/victorian-housing-register

Housing Act 1983 amendments

Questions and Answers, December 2016 2