Sustainable Cities

News

• Perth Housing Day Report

  The Australasian Housing Institute (AHI), in conjunction with Swinburne University, held a series of events at the Novotel Langley Hotel on 12 November 2008. The events were attended by DHW staff and others who are past and present Swinburne students as well as AHI members.

  The day's events were opened by AHI President Shane Edmonds and started with an excellent breakfast. Shane then chaired a discussion on the topic "Challenges for Professional Education in Human Services". Speakers were DHW Director General Grahame Searle, Swinburne University's Dean of the Faculty of Life and Social Sciences Russell Crawford and Brendan Moran from Housing South Australia.

  This event was followed by a session to celebrate the achievements of Swinburne University students, past and present. Dean of the Faculty of Life and Social Sciences Russell Crawford and Professor Terry Burke were the keynote speakers for this event. This was followed by an acknowledgement of students and sharing of student experiences facilitated by AHI CEO Joan Ferguson. There was also a presentation by the AHI to Swinburne University to formalise professional acknowledgement of the Swinburne housing courses.

  In the afternoon the AHI held a Special General Meeting followed by its Annual General Meeting. The Keynote speaker at the meeting was Grahame Searle. The final event of the day was a joint policy forum run by the AHI and Swinburne University facilitated by Joan Ferguson, AHI CEO. The keynote speaker, Professor Terry Burke from Swinburne University, spoke on the topic "Failing Markets and Housing Interventions" and challenged the audience to think about the future of social housing. Following Professor Burke's speech, a panel comprised of notables from the public and private housing sectors responded to Professor Burke's speech.

  On 13 November the AHI held a workshop at the Mantra on Hay, on the topic "Aboriginal Housing - Developing a Vision for the Future". This was the first of two workshops (the second will be run in Sydney) aimed to give housing professionals the opportunity to offer input into a vision for the future direction of Aboriginal housing across Australia.

  Reprinted with permission from HouseWorks, Magazine of the Western Australia Department of Housing and Works