Who Are We?
The Housing Connection is a support service for people with a disability. We provide supported accommodation; drop in support; 24 hour support homes and Transition to Work services.

Support can cover a range of areas focusing on skills development. We provide training in the home, in the community, travelling, communication skills, financial management, developing social networks, confidence building and self advocacy.
Our Philosophy
The work of The Housing Connection is guided by a commitment to ensuring the best quality of life, measured in terms of favourable outcomes, for each individual whom we support.

Given appropriate personal support, resources and opportunities, clients of The Housing Connection (NSW) Inc. can achieve new skills, enjoy a lifestyle they value and greater happiness, and be valued more positively in the community.
Our Mission
The Housing Connection is committed to the development of individually tailored programs that ensure quality outcomes in client’s lives. This means involving people as much as possible in the choices and decisions they make in their lives so they may enjoy a fulfilling lifestyle.

We believe that all people, including those who have an intellectual or other disability, are entitled to the same rights, and access to the same opportunities in all areas of life. This means they can use the same facilities, can enjoy the same activities, can receive the same training, and can have the same choices and opportunities to develop their own lifestyles to suit their personality and needs.

Social Role Valorisation, within a context of human rights, is a means of assisting people to make the above belief a reality. It means involving people, as much as possible in choices that are culturally valued relating, for example, to shopping, jobs, recreation, clothes, holidays, professional services, health, finances or home. It also means assisting people to attain valued roles in their day-to-day life, such as artist, husband, employee, employer, club member, actress, or best friend.

An organisation like ours assists people to develop the skills to attain more of these valued roles and to feel they are valued members of society. They are entitled to live in congenial surroundings, to be treated with dignity and to receive respect. The individuality of each person supported by The Housing Connection is cherished.

Our Values
The Housing Connection aims to ensure that its policies and practices are congruent with its values. These include:

i) Community participation

ii) Inclusion

iii) Social justice

iv) Rights of every individual to live a fulfilling life

v) Respect

vi) Belief in the inherent dignity of each individual

vii) Focus on peoples abilities

viii) Right to a service that meets individual needs, goals and aspirations

ix) Congruence between values and action
Our Aims
The Housing Connection aims to:

a) Support clients to achieve the best “quality of life” outcomes according to their aspirations.

b) Encourage the people it supports to achieve as great a degree of independence as possible.

c) Support people to identify their housing needs and to plan the way in which they will be addressed by the organisation.

d) Find, choose, secure and maintain a place to live which offers good quality housing, suited to the person’s needs, and in an area chosen to facilitate community relationships.

e) Live in and enjoy this place whether it is their own home, a home which they share with other people or another person’s home, which they share with people who do not use The Housing Connection, including their family home.

f) Interact with people from the community at large with whom they could develop on-going personal relationships.

g) Foster and maintain relationships with people they have met in the community and with their families, friends and other contacts.

h) Achieve the maximum possible control, independence and autonomy in their lives.
Our Objectives

-To provide supported accommodation (i.e. training and support to enable opportunities to live in the community in a manner and style that compares favourably with that of the general community).

-To offer training in a wide range of social, domestic, personal and interpersonal skills, with a view to enabling independence (as much as possible), therefore also enhancing an individuals social and personal image.

-To provide the maximum possible choices in relation to accommodation preferences. For example, who a person lives with, daily lifestyle options, and opportunities for community interaction.

-The Housing Connection believes that the same rights should be extended to the people it supports as are available to every member of our society. These include:

1. the right to respect;

2. the right to a decent life;

3. the right to make decisions about your own life;

4. the right to privacy;

5. the right to a choice of options;

6. the right to enter into contracts;

7. the right to support tailored to your individual needs;

8. the right to complain;

9. the right to protection from abuse and neglect;

10. the right to a full and rewarding lifestyle
Our History
The Housing Connection was established in 1981, by a group of parents and other interested people, who were seeking community based support options for adults with an intellectual disability. The organisation commenced with pilot funding, to establish a home for people who needed behavioural support.

The group established a 24-hour home for people who needed behavioural support. The idea was that the house would provide training and support to develop independent living skills and to enable a move to more independent living. In 1988, this home provided permanent accommodation for 4 individuals with moderate support needs and coincided with four people living in the house moving into more independent living.

In 1989, the current concept of The Housing Connection in response to needs identified by Parents and Relatives for the Implementation of Services (PARIS) a group of parents, and a sub-committee of Action for Citizens with Disabilities, together with the Lower North Shore Developmental Disability Team. PARIS found that the most pressing need of people with an intellectual disability on the Lower North Shore was for supported accommodation. They lacked opportunities and support to develop the skills necessary to find, secure and maintain a place of their own in the local community.

PARIS, therefore, approached the Lower North Shore Disabled Persons Action Group to extend their present Accommodation Support Program to support another ten to twelve people in their chosen form of accommodation in the Lower North Shore area. As a result Drop-In services were developed and remain a key service model today.

The Housing Connection is funded under section 10 of the Disability Services Act (DSA) 1993, and operates according to the Principles and Objectives contained in this Act. The Housing Connection is an Incorporated Association, which is “not for gain” and has comprehensive policy and procedures to comply with relevant legislation including the DSA, Occupational Health and Safety and Governance policies.

Board of Management
A voluntary Board of management, who are elected each year at the Annual General Meeting, oversees the organisation.

The Board meets monthly and oversee the financial management of the organisation, its direction and policy development. Governance policies have been developed which outlines the scope of activities and responsibilities of the Board.

A representative of the Board sits on the Support Allocation and Monitoring Committee, which oversees the quality of support services, and as required sub-committees are established for particular activities such as fundraising.

Copies of the Annual Report are available on request. Contact us for a copy.