Agenda - Housing and Homelessness

2026 Agenda

Housing and Homelessness Forum

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7:00 AM Registration opens

8:30 AM Welcome to Country

8:40 AM Opening remarks from the Chair

Collaboration, coordination and transformation for system integration

8:50 AM Keynote: Embedding housing expertise in family services to deliver integrated, better housing outcomes

Embedding housing specialists within family services teams to improve housing access and outcomes

Delivering multidisciplinary, integrated practice that reduces system complexity for clients

Structuring roles and workforce supports to sustain integrated models and retain staff

Using outcomes tracking and comparative data to evidence impact and inform service design

9:20 AM Panel Discussion: Co-designing services with lived experience to fix system blind spots

Identify gaps caused by designing programs without end-user input

Learn how lived experience leads to better outcomes for people fleeing domestic violence, youth, and First Nations communities

Reduce system friction by aligning design with real client journeys

Discover co-design techniques used successfully across Specialist Homelessness Services and mental health services

Moderator:

Panellists:

10:00 AM Morning refreshments

10:30 AM Toward Home Alliance: How alliancing models can improve system transparency, innovation and funding parity for Aboriginal people and communities

Alliancing principles: A collective impact approach to delivering specialist homelessness services

Wardli-ana: Challenging system inequities through Aboriginal funding parity, Aboriginal-specific service delivery and improved outcomes

11:00 AM Supportive Housing: Evidence, Policy and Pathways to Scale

What the evidence tells us
How policy is driving consistency and reform
From advocacy to delivery

Moderator:

Panellists:

11:40 AM Case study: Adopting strategic, collaborative approach to community development in social housing to create a foundation for meaningful, long-term impact

Empowering teams and communities is essential to achieving sustainable social impact
Addressing issues rooted in intergenerational trauma demands empathy and a strengths-based method to build trust and deliver meaningful programmes
Building strong partnerships with organisations that provide specialist expertise are critical, while upskilling local people and fostering community leadership ensures lasting change
Supporting staff to manage psycho-social demands, promoting resilience and emotional well-being. Together, these strategies

12:10 AM Networking luncheon

1:10 PM Case Study: Exploring how a single point of access is improving coordination, visibility, and client experience across homelessness

Understand how a centralised intake model works in practice, particularly in a geographically dispersed and regionally diverse context like the Northern Territory

Identify the tangible benefits of a single, shared system, including better client experience, improved referrals, and clearer pathways into accommodation and support

Navigating the challenges including recruitment, service alignment, and managing demand when supply is limited

Unpacking learnings from collaboration, data visibility, and continuous improvement to strengthen intake, assessment, and referral processes

Panellists:

1:40 PM Launch Pad - Strengthening care transitions with a dedicated housing program to reduce homelessness for young people leaving care

Strengthen tenancy stability with a dedicated housing team to generate smoother, safer transitions for young people leaving care
Map care‑leaver journey with a real client case study to generate visibility of system gaps, touchpoints, and redesign opportunities
Integrate transition planning with Launchpad’s TCP ready flexible staffing to generate stronger relational continuity and reduced service fragmentation
Redesign youth housing pathways with evidence informed, developmentally appropriate options to generate longterm stability and improved wellbeing outcomes

2:10 PM From Plan to Place: Delivering accommodation through collaboration with State Government

Working with Government and local communities to rapidly transition services for high risk and vulnerable cohorts to ensure service continuity and improve care quality

2:40 PM Afternoon tea break

3:10 PM Mini Workshop: Embedding lived experience into case management and service delivery to uplift accountability and client outcomes

The challenges of introducing lived experience into the homelessness and domestic & family violence space
Educating teams and gaining buy-in and engagement
Mapping out and standardising processes and positions and ensuring sustainability
Accounting for intersectionality

4:10 PM Building Resilience and Upskilling Staff

4:40 PM Closing Remarks from the chair and End of Focus Day

7:00 AM Registration opens

8:30 AM Welcome to Country

8:40 AM Opening remarks from the Chair

Morning Plenary: Practical system reform for a coherent housing and homelessness response

8:50 AM Ministerial Address: All Paths Lead to a Home: 10 Year Homelessness strategy 2020 – 2030

9:00 AM Opening keynote: Regulating Australia’s rental market and protecting vulnerability

Understanding how regulation is helping vulnerable cohorts

Unpacking the policy framework

What can the sector do to work with the regulators

9:30 AM Case study: Preventing youth homelessness: guaranteeing housing pathways for care leavers through policy reform and corporate parenting

Reframing care leaver homelessness as a preventable system failure, positioning housing as a core corporate parenting responsibility rather than a crisis response

Understanding why care leavers make up 62% of homeless youth, and why extending care to 21, while critical, has not reduced homelessness without parallel housing policy reform

Applying an evidence-based national housing framework, including the proposal to ringfence 5,000 HAFF homes for care leavers, drawing on international and Australian reform strategies

Translating advocacy into legislative and policy change, sharing practical insights from the Home Stretch campaign on getting governments and philanthropy “over the line” through persistence, dialogue, and strategic reform architecture

10:00 AM Panel Discussion: Breaking the cycle and ending the homelessness crisis: strategies in early intervention and prevention

What is the data telling us: unpacking the trends and insights

Understanding the lack of investment in prevention and early intervention

Discussing programs that have worked and understanding what hasn’t worked

Developing a co-ordinated, sustainable early intervention and prevention response

Panellists:

Moderator:

10:40 AM Morning refreshments

Chair:

11:10 AM Case study: Addressing the policy gaps and providing access and equity to a marginalised cohort

Understanding the policy gaps and advocating to address them

Providing nuanced and culturally safe support a marginalised cohort of women on visas

Navigating the risks and mapping out next steps

11:40 AM Case study: Developing sustainable, data-informed pathways out of homelessness for youth

Unpacking the data: the state of youth homelessness and housing insecurity today

Empowering and supporting youth to sustain tenancies through rental subsidies and brokerage supports

Providing stable and secure housing to promote independent living

12:10 PM Case study: Designing trauma-informed, community-led responses to domestic and family violence in homelessness services

Designing refuge and crisis responses through trauma-informed, strengths-based practice grounded in women’s lived experience

Co-designing programs with women and children to improve engagement, retention, and long-term outcomes

Building wraparound, collaborative service models that integrate community, specialist services, and housing pathways

Embedding First Nations leadership and Aboriginal women’s ways of working to deliver culturally safe, effective practice

12:40 PM Networking luncheon

1:40 PM Case study: Trauma-informed housing models and partnerships that enable women to thrive

Trust as a deliberate, designable element of trauma-informed service delivery
Recognise how community-building and peer connection reduce stigma and isolation, creating pathways to confidence and independence
Challenge narrow KPIs (e.g. 12-month tenancy sustainment) and consider broader, more meaningful outcome measure
Explore how partnerships between community housing providers and women-specialist organisations unlock outcomes that cannot be achieved in isolation

2:10 PM Case study: The critical role of temporary supported accommodation in supporting people to transition safely from detox, sobriety, and rough sleeping into stable housing

Explore how integrated housing and support models can address complex mental health, addiction, and social needs in high-density and transitional settings

Learn how cross-sector partnerships between housing, homelessness, detox, and support services improve long-term sobriety, safety, and housing outcomes

Chair:

11:10 AM Case study: Developing and scaling culturally-informed housing in regional areas to drive healing, tenancy readiness and sustained outcomes

Understanding how a culturally informed, relationship-based case management frameworks drives tenancy readiness, healing, and sustained outcomes

Exploring the Gibber House model was built from the ground up to respond to the unique needs of Aboriginal men, centred on culture, safety, and trust

Unpacking measurable outcomes, including supporting 120 men in 5–9 months, and the wrap-around supports that enabled this

Next steps: scaling and replicating the model in regional and urban contexts while addressing funding barriers and sector challenges

11:40 AM Case study: Using AI to de-risk housing development: improving quality, capacity, and delivery in affordable housing

How AI is being applied across the full development lifecycle to manage risk and improve quality assurance

The efficiencies gained through reducing human error and accelerating due diligence, planning, and delivery processes

How AI supports stronger governance, board decision-making, and investment confidence

Practical lessons on building workforce capability and confidence through play-based AI adoption

12:10 PM Case study: Co-designing safe, youth-led housing to deliver better design and stronger tenancy outcomes

Apply co-design to create fit-for-purpose youth housing that improves safety

Translate lived experience into practical design solutions

Design housing that supports long-term tenancy outcomes, not crisis cycling

Strengthen housing supply outcomes through scalable, youth-informed design models

12:40 PM Networking luncheon

1:40 PM Case study: Explore place-based, community-informed design to improve tenant wellbeing whilst reducing long-term operational costs

Build internal development capability to move from aspiration to a funded delivery pipeline

Establish in-house capability, governance and systems to confidently progress multiple projects from concept to construction

Empower the boards to manage growth, risk and investment at scale

Examine the operational, workforce and system changes required to effectively develop and manage higher density, mixed-tenure housing

2:10 PM Case study: Housing cooperatives and the missing middle: delivering permanently affordable housing through shared equity and community governance

Housing cooperatives as a solution to the missing middle providing secure, affordable housing for households locked out of both social housing and private rental/ ownership systems

Understand how long-term tenure, collective decision-making and tenant participation reduce housing stress, improve wellbeing and support sustained tenancies

Identify pathways to grow and scale cooperative housing in Australia including policy settings, CHP partnerships and regional opportunities

Chair:

11:10 AM Case study: Social Impact Bonds to fund social and affordable housing: the good, the bad and the ugly

Demonstrating success and gaining investment from private investors
Lobbying for support and buy-in from government and other critical stakeholders
Lessons learned: the importance of having commitments made from the outset

11:40 AM Case study: Uncovering and understanding the data behind the biggest challenges facing the homelessness sector in order to better inform service delivery, investment and policy

Overview of Specialist Homelessness Service Collection and key populations: unaccompanied children, family domestic violence, mental health

Value add of integrated data in understanding the interconnectedness of service delivery: Specialist Homelessness Services, Alcohol and Other Drugs, Child Protection, Youth Justice

Building a picture of multiple disadvantage: using person centric analysis to understand mortality outcomes

12:10 PM Faith-on-land: removing planning barriers, leveraging data, and activating community-embedded assets to deliver social and affordable housing at scale

Rethinking zoning and planning to activate faith-owned land for affordable and social housing

Understand how data-driven asset mapping can improve engagement and support

Translate lessons from NSW to a national context, including scaling the mapping tool,

Strategies to address stigma and community resistance

Moderator:

12:40 PM Networking luncheon

1:40 PM Case Study: Diversifying income streams to address the funding challenges and cultural influences on the operation of the housing continuum to close the gap

Understanding the importance of Aboriginal communities developing their own responses & service models that respond to the nuances of the housing continuum

Adopting an approach to tenancy management that goes beyond compliance to drive better outcomes

Exploring different income streams from profit-for-purpose, industry partnerships, philanthropy and government funding

2:40 PM Afternoon refreshments

System coordination, prevention and sustainable pathways

3:10 PM From Investment to Impact: Government-led system coordination to deliver sustainable housing pathways

Outlining the scale and intent of current Victorian housing investment and how different programs work together across the housing continuum

Explaining how planning powers, redevelopment, and mixed-tenure approaches are being used to accelerate delivery and support prevention and sustainable pathways

Highlighting collaboration with housing providers, homelessness services, and Aboriginal housing organisations, including opportunities for better system integration

Providing insight into what’s next over the coming 5–10 years, and how the sector can better engage with government, funding cycles, and partnership opportunities

3:40 PM Roundtables

Roundtable 1: A strategic, policy-driven approach to ending homelessness

Facilitated by:

Roundtable 2: Developing a case management framework for homelessness

Roundtable 2: Housing First in 2026: The benefit and challenges

Facilitated by:

Roundtable 3: First Nations housing and tenancy reform

Facilitated by:

Roundtable 4: Designing tenancy support for clients with complex needs

Facilitated by:

4:40 PM Putting First Nations People Before Property - Practical Pathways to Home Ownership

Transformative collaboration: presenting an innovative partnership model with the Aboriginal Housing Office, focused on mutual collaboration and shared policy goals

Empowering First Nations home ownership: showcasing how strength-based partnerships enable First Nations households to build their capacity and achieve home ownership, prioritising dignity, agency, and self-determination

System-wide social and economic impact: examining how promoting First Nations home ownership can alleviate the pressure on social housing, foster long-term stability and financial security, and create positive ripple effects throughout homelessness and housing systems

Leadership and cultural safety at the core: highlighting proven, replicable models that place First Nations leadership, cultural safety, and empowerment at the heart of home ownership, paving the way for intergenerational stability and meaningful systems change

5:10 PM Closing remarks and end of conference

8:30 AM Registration opens

8:50 AM Opening remarks from the Chair

Integrated system design and future accountability

9:00 AM Keynote: The challenges of boosting fit-for-purpose housing stock and strategies to overcome them

Navigating current and future challenges including aging-in-place, climate change and growing need for place-based supports
Optimising aging assets
Adopting Modern Methods of Construction

9:30 AM Successfully navigating HAFF

Developing a strategic approach to growth and looking beyond bids and contracts
Setting the organisation up for greater complexity: from building capacity and skills set to having the right governance structures in place
Uplifting service delivery by putting the customer at the centre

10:00 AM Leadership Panel: Futureproofing systems, building capability and forming critical partnerships to address the systemic challenges facing the housing sector

Addressing the challenges faced by short-termism in funding and the focus on bricks-n-mortar vs. services

Driving the internal changes necessary adapt to greater complexity; including governance and capacity building

The focus on partnerships: what do effective partnerships look like and how they can be leveraged to unlock greater outcomes

The role of leaders play in finding solutions to the sticky problems – from low stock, limited funding and much more

Panellists:

Moderator:

10:40 AM Morning refreshments

Chair:

11:10 AM Case study: Mobilising and engaging communities and volunteers to strengthen housing outcomes

The role of community-based, volunteer-led services in rebuilding trust with people experiencing homelessness and acting as a gateway to housing and support pathways

Practical strategies for mobilising volunteers and the broader community as advocates for housing solutions, particularly in the face of growing NIMBYism and community pushback

Lessons from large-scale volunteer engagement models to strengthen community buy-in, collaboration, and local legitimacy for housing initiatives

Reframe community engagement as a system enabler of Housing First outcomes through dignity, and connection

11:40 AM Case study: Youth Foyers - inspiring possibility through Advantaged Thinking

How Advantage Thinking reframes young people as agents of change with strengths, talents, and aspirations

How the Youth Foyer model applies this philosophy through housing, education, employment, and life-skills supports

What the national Youth Foyer outcomes framework tells us about impact, learning, and continuous improvements

The role of lived-experience leadership in shaping effective youth homelessness responses

12:10 PM Case Study: Home to Work an update 2 years in: how stable housing is improving employment outcomes and tenancy progression opportunities

Home to Work: navigating differences across states and other challenges

Developing relationships to provide wrap-around services for early intervention and to prevent re-homelessness

Building operational readiness for the transformation and developing risk mitigation strategies

Collaborating with the private rental sector to support Home2Work exits and tenancy progression

12:40 PM Networking luncheon

1:40 PM Case Study: Understanding emerging climate risks, reshaping public messaging, and preparing the sector for the next decade

National Climate Risk Assessment as a framework for supporting people experiencing homelessness

Building preparedness for the scale of climate impacts for rough sleepers and people across the spectrum of housing insecurity

Integrating climate risk assessment and emergency responses into homelessness practice

2:10 PM Case Study: Understanding the root cause of hoarding and squalor to aid the development of strategies to address it and break the cycle of disadvantage and homelessness

Unpacking the research and understanding underlying and independent factors

The impacts on and of isolation and mental health

Strategies to address hoarding and squalor and sustain tenancies
The cost of inaction driving system pressure

Chair:

11:10 AM Case study: Unlocking greater housing stock through innovative meanwhile use models

Collaborating with private sector partners such as landlords, developers, aged care and developers

Navigating and making sense of changing planning regulations and red tape

Garnering innovation funding to bring meanwhile use housing to life

11:40 AM Case study: Delivering new stock on time and within budget: An exercise in effective project management, risk management and governance

Best practice in building and maintaining relationships with developers and builders

Strategies to be successful in a high-risk environment with the right controls and mitigating factors

Lessons learned and next steps

12:10 PM Case study: Maximising the impact of housing investment across the continuum through different models and partnerships

Exploring how targeted funding models and innovative models like youth foyers and core and cluster are delivering meaningful outcomes for women and children escaping domestic violence, young people, and First Nations communities

Showcasing the partnerships and cross-jurisdictional collaboration between state and territory governments and the housing sector that are turning significant investment into real, lasting change

Identifying how we can collectively solve shared challenges and build a stronger, more responsive sector to meet the diverse needs of people at every stage of the housing continuum

12:40 PM Networking luncheon

1:40 PM Case study: Place-making for young people leaving care to build belonging and bring together sustainable housing with timely coaching supports to prevent homelessness

Designing and scaling tiny homes as transitional housing for youth leaving care with a community focus

Working in partnership with young people to enable agency and decision-making

Providing on-site and wrap around supports to support the transition to independent living in quality sustainable housing

Integrating education and employment to support young people to realise their aspirations

2:10 PM Case Study: Optimising council land to increase the supply of affordable housing: the opportunities, challenges and lessons learned

Increasing stock across the housing continuum including emergency housing, transitional and affordable housing

Unpacking the social returns and how affordable housing can also achieve an economic and public purpose

Leveraging data to understand the local context and how housing is central to a thriving community and economy

Chair:

11:10 AM Case study: Mobilising the community, fostering partnerships and navigating funding challenges to drive better outcomes for people facing homelessness and housing insecurity in regional Australia

Identify practical strategies for engaging local businesses, volunteers, industry and community members to co-produce essential support

Explore how a homelessness hub model can address immediate needs while also creating pathways to longer-term supports

Identify how partnerships with health services, universities and community organisations can extend service reach without formal funding arrangements

11:40 AM Case study: Pathways to Home Ownership for Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander community in Victoria

From Social Housing to Homeownership : Enabling Wealth Creation through Aboriginal Housing Victoria’s Renter Home Purchase Program Pilot

Identify how community-led housing initiatives can address housing insecurity and build intergenerational wealth, offering a scalable model for Community Housing Providers seeking to expand ownership pathways

Partnerships, schemes and grants that support First Peoples transition into homeownership

12:10 PM Case study: Removing barriers and strengthening community-led responses to address Aboriginal overrepresentation in homelessness, rough sleeping and overcrowding

Understanding the lived realities and systemic barriers driving Aboriginal homelessness in Greater Darwin
Demonstrate how community-controlled, place-based models respond to complex regional and remote challenges
Identify scalable reforms to improve access, safety, and long-term housing outcomes
Inform policy, funding, and service design through Aboriginal community-led solutions
Scott McKeen
Chief Executive Officer
The Council for Aboriginal Alcohol Program Services

12:40 PM Networking luncheon

1:40 PM Free session. Visit Stream A or Stream B

2:10 PM Free session. Visit Stream A or Stream B

2:40 PM Afternoon refreshments

Mental Health and Housing Insecurity

3:10 PM Panel discussion: The interdependence of housing and mental health: How CHPs, Mental Health Services and Department of Health collaborate to break the cycle of homelessness through continuity of care and providing better supports to those with complex needs

Understanding the link between housing and mental health
Explore strategies for seamless care transitions across sectors, including disability, aged care, hospital, and community mental health services
Identify opportunities for cross-sector collaboration and resource optimisation to amplify impact and improve accountability in housing and health services
Panellists:
Maria Woods
Director of DV & Community Services
HousingPlus Group
Margaret Maljkovic
Chief Customer Officer
Link Wentworth
Elsie Blay
COO
RUAH
Marianna Wong
Vocational and Housing Program Manager, Mental Health Drug & Alcohol
Northern Sydney Local Health District
Moderator:
William (Bill) Campos
Chief Executive Officer
ICLA

4:00 PM Closing remarks and end of conference

9:00 AM - 12:00 PMWorkshop A: Working collaboratively across sectors to assist people with complex needs to sustain tenancies

Build integrated practice based on clear understanding of support and housing provider roles
Prototype coordinated referral, tenancy and/or case management systems that prevent re-traumatisation
Design tenancy sustainment frameworks for people with co-existing and complex needs 
Produce a practical implementation roadmap for your organisation
Facilitator:
Leah Watkins
Senior Advisor Supportive Housing Impact and Advocacy
Housing Choices Western Australia

9:00 AM - 12:00 PMWorkshop B: Breaking the cycle of homelessness and disadvantage with a data-driven approach

Developing a data-driven framework to ending homelessness: fundamentals and key concepts
Moving away from short-term siloed responses and focusing on long-term, systemic solutions
Action planning and setting up an Advance to Zero initiative including a by-name list
Leveraging real-time data
Facilitator:
David Pearson
Chief Executive Officer
Australian Alliance to End Homelessness
Kate Feeney
Director Community Impact
End Street Sleeping Collaboration

1:00 PM - 4:00 PMWorkshop C: Co-designing and integrating a culturally informed framework to outreach, case management and service delivery

Apply culturally informed principles to redesign outreach, case management, and service delivery so that client interactions are safer, more inclusive, and aligned with the needs of First Nations communities and other culturally diverse groups.
Integrate co-design methodologies by working with people with lived experience to identify system blind spots, redesign client pathways, and ensure programs genuinely reflect community priorities and cultural contexts.
Develop a practical, organisation-ready framework that embeds cultural safety, trauma-informed practice, and relational approaches into day-to-day service delivery, workforce capability, and cross-sector collaboration.
Strengthen accountability and outcomes measurement by identifying culturally relevant indicators and aligning service delivery with long-term housing stability, healing, and sustained tenancy outcomes
Facilitator:
Tina Ugle
Managing Director
Noongar Mia Mia
Elsie Blay
COO
RUAH

We’re in the process of bringing together the best of the best for the 2027 agenda. We will share more updates later

2026 Agenda

Housing and Homelessness Forum

7:00 AM Registration opens

8:30 AM Welcome to Country

Jackson Hills

Collaboration, coordination and transformation for system integration

Camila Aldred

Katie McDonald

Moderator:

Jackson Hills

Panellists:

Tess Power

Madelyn Fox

Rachel Adams

10:00 AM Morning refreshments

Jessie Neal

Isaac Hannam

Moderator:

Jackson Hills

Panellists:

Rob Molhoek MP(Southport)

Danielle McAllister

Steve Neale

12:10 AM Networking luncheon

Panellists:

Susan Richards

April Robinson

Zak Davidson

Marie Louise Carroll

Jennie Burns

2:40 PM Afternoon tea break

Rachel Adams

Mubera Hadzic

Cassi Strauss

Marie Louise Carroll

Jennie Burns

4:40 PM Closing Remarks from the chair and End of Focus Day

7:00 AM Registration opens

8:30 AM Welcome to Country

Jackson Hills

Morning Plenary: Practical system reform for a coherent housing and homelessness response

Hon. Matthew Swinbourn MLC

Trina Jones

Paul McDonald

Panellists:

Mitchell Burney

Shane Hamilton

Moderator:

Jackson Hills

10:40 AM Morning refreshments

Chair:

Fiona Caniglia

Mariam Deng

Di Kapera

Billie-Jo Williams

Amanda Sweeney

12:40 PM Networking luncheon

Libby Caskey

Jamie Brewer

Cindi Petersen

Chair:

John Engeler

Kristie Burge

Charles Northcote

Rebecca Mullins

Jacqui Brooker

Exvin Curnuck

Lixen Peglar

Alicia Gordon

12:40 PM Networking luncheon

Sharon Shearsmith

Georgina Leader

Nick Sabel

Chair:

Shane Todd

Chris Burns

Anne-Marie Rushby

Moderator:

Voula Moutsos

12:40 PM Networking luncheon

Zak Davidson

Hon. Matthew Swinbourn MLC

Jamie Brewer

Elsie Blay