Northern District NSW Homes Joint Consultative Committee meeting

March 24, 2025 Bulletins - Housing NSW - Latest News

The bimonthly Joint Consultative Committee (JCC) meeting was held on 17 February for Homes Northern District (Northern NSW, Central Coast and Hunter area) and was attended by the PSA, your elected Delegates and Homes leadership. This meeting serves as an important platform for discussions on various matters affecting our members in this District. Below are the key highlights:

Tuggerah relocation

This has been delayed until August due to funding as well as landlord and council approval. There are Work Health & Safety (WHS) working and action groups and these will continue. The WHS group is continuing to discuss the concierge model. Members are to discuss any feedback and concerns regarding this site with Delegates. The PSA appreciates any feedback from the Lismore office on how the concierge model is working.

Splitting of phones in Tweed Heads Homes.

Members have been asking for some time for the phone to be split at the Tweed Heads Homes site. This would mean clients who require assistance from Access and Demand (A&D) are put through to the staff who work in A&D, while clients who require Tenancy support are put through to the appropriate staff. This is currently how the phones are run at Lismore Homes. Homes have agreed to a three-month trial.

Work Health and Safety

Homes provided a report on the trends in the last 12 months regarding Safety Suite reports, and the information provided is that reports have increased by 10 to 15 per quarter.

The top three trends are:

Verbal abuse and threats
Psychological harm and trauma
Bullying and harassment.

Northern District is working with management and providing training on managing workplace issues. It is also training with staff so they know the options available to them. Neuroinclusive training will also be provided.

SafeWork Improvement Notice

In 2024 Homes and the Department of Communities and Justice were issued on several SafeWork Improvement Notices due to Psychological Hazards in the workplace. Homes has updated the PSA with actions that are taking place to consult with staff. This is run through the OPUS centre.

Consultation meetings had been arranged where there was more management than staff representatives due to staff unavailability. The PSA requested that a consultation session with staff representatives be held without management present, and this has been agreed to by Homes and a separate meeting arranged. The PSA encourages members to be part of this process as it’s important that all voices are heard.

Recruitment

Northern NSW There will be rolling recruitment in the coming months to fill the 7/8 in Temporary Accommodation (TA) team, Aboriginal Housing Assistant and other key positions requiring talent pools and expressions of interest. A new Client Service Officer (CSO) will start at Grafton shortly and there will be backfilling three days per week for the staff member on leave via Lismore. Lismore will be backfilled by a staff member returning from secondment.

Hunter Current talent pool is exhausted and there have been new starters in the Tenancy Team in Newcastle and Lake Macquarie, with the Headlease position and 7/8 Housing Manager still vacant.

Central Coast Currently at establishment.

Increment payments

Members have raised concerns their increments don’t appear to be getting processed by payroll even once manager has approved. Homes advises to keep escalating to their manager and this will be raised with Tara Vella. Any member still waiting for their increment to be paid is to contact the PSA Regional Organiser.

Changes in Northern NSW

The PSA requested information regarding the recent changes to functions/roles for Northern NSW. Homes advised the Team Leader and Housing Manager are exploring options for supporting and training staff in all functions of their roles over a six-month trial. The PSA advised if there are any changes, we would like to see more consultation with staff prior to any change being made. Since this meeting the PSA has been advised that this change has been put on hold and Homes will continue to work with staff to build their capacity.

Changes to Temporary Accommodation

Access & Demand have split into five smaller teams to manage Temporary Accommodation. Four teams are each allocated 100 clients to work with each week and a fifth team will manage products and subsidies. Twp teams will be in Tweed Heads and two in Lismore. There will be management presence in the Tweed Heads office every week. Home advised that it is working well and invited feedback. Members are advised they can provide this feedback via the PSA and we can provide this at the next JCC meeting.

The next meeting is 21 April 2025. If you would like any issues raised, please speak to your Delegates.