Once working-class, the inner city suburbs of Fitzroy, Collingwood and Richmond, are now prosperous and vibrant communities on the edge of Melbourne‟s CBD. The Fitzroy, Collingwood and Richmond public housing estates which are located in these three suburbs represent approx 20% of the total housing stock. Some 6500 people live on the three estates, with the majority of these residents living in 12 towers, which provide 2400 units of high-rise housing. The three estates provide housing at subsidised rents to people on low income, typically 95% of people in public housing are in receipt of income support.In the early 2000s, after years of underinvestment in social housing in Victoria, the Victorian Government was facing run down public housing stock and chronic social issues. Two of the communities worst affected were the Collingwood and Fitzroy public housing estates. These estates were seen as highly undesirable with 120 vacant properties on the Fitzroy estate in 2002 at a time when there were 40,000 families on the public housing waiting list.The government undertook consultations and the community identified three issues negatively impacting on the estates. The issue of most concernwas community safety related to drug activity, followed closely by cleaning, and maintenance.The Office of Housing (OoH) initially responded to the issue of community safety by providing higher levels of security on the sites, but was determined to develop a more comprehensive and preventative response modelled on the concierge roles provided in some private high- rise apartment accommodation.The resulting Concierge Service was developed in 2002 to operate a restricted access service for each of the towers, to provide tenant information and orientation for new residents, and provide a community agency referral service for residents. The Concierge Service was managed by OoH and recruited unemployed people to these roles. The OoH engaged the Brotherhood of St Laurence (the Brotherhood) to provide supplementary services such as training and personal support in recognition that the concierges required a supportive workplace to succeed.For the Brotherhood, their involvement in the Concierge Service coincided with their exploration of new approaches to employment for those disadvantaged in the labour market. The Concierge Service (CS) demonstrated the power of service innovation as a vehicle for achieving social as well as service outcomes.In 2002/03 the Brotherhood trialled a fully funded Intermediate Labour Market (ILM) program designed to pathway disadvantaged job seekers from the public housing estates into mainstream employment via 12 months on the job training in aged care. The core components were:pre-employment training a 12-month fixed term job
a nationally accredited traineeship access to a support worker
assistance in obtaining work in the open labour market
Underpinning this approach was the belief that employment in a paid job combined with effective training and personal support for 12 months created readiness for independent work and/or further study
The Brotherhood‟s exploration of predictable and reliable revenue sources to cover the costs of the ILM approach led them to social enterprise and the delivery of commercial contracts. The Brotherhood first piloted this approach in partnership with the Adult Multicultural Education Service (AMES) through the establishment of a cleaning company. The success of this venture coincided with OoH initiative to out-source the Concierge Service and deliver it through a social enterprise model which would provide training and employment opportunities for different public housing tenants on an annual basis.
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