Housing Choices Australia moves west in multi-million dollar merger
1 July 2020 at 6:07 pm
The merger sets the organisation up to be one of the largest community housing providers in the country
Access Housing Australia Ltd and Housing Choices Australia Ltd are joining forces to bring new and innovative social housing options to Western Australia.
The $900 million merger will see the WA-based Access Housing join the Housing Choices Australia group of companies, which operates across Victoria, Tasmania, South Australia and New South Wales.
The merged entity will be responsible for the management of nearly 7,000 social and affordable homes across the country, with an annual revenue of nearly $70 million.
Housing Choices Australia’s chairperson, Heather McCallum, said the merger would create more housing and opportunities for current residents while respecting the local culture, history and tradition of both organisations.
“The Housing Choices federated model has been designed to balance the interests of each participating state by ensuring a local membership board and equal representation of each state on the national board of Housing Choices,” McCallum said.
“We think this approach is the best way to continue to deliver excellent outcomes for all stakeholders including, now, the people of Western Australia.”
Former chairman of Access Housing David Lantzke and the former Access Housing director, Matt Raison, have joined the Housing Choices board of directors.
Lantzke said the new national organisation’s solid financial base and strong presence will help it meet the challenges of an emerging new age for the community housing sector.
“As a truly national community housing provider, our scale and capacity will better position us to help inform and shape policy, both at national and state levels, as well as allow us to deliver a far broader and more innovative range of positive housing and community outcomes for some of Australia’s most vulnerable people,” Lantzke said.
Housing Choices Australia managing director Michael Lennon will lead the expanded organisation, with WA operations to be headed up by executive general Manager Neil Starkie.
More information on the merger can be found here.
