GOOD NEWS – Maintenance in Mparntwe (Alice Springs)

Community Housing Central Australia (CHCA) has recently completed Survey Fix – 1 as part of an annual maintenance program to improve house function!

CHCA is an Aboriginal controlled, not-for-profit community housing provider in Mparntwe / Alice Springs. They used the Housing for Health method to inspect, test, and fix up to 250 items in 60 houses using local teams and health workers.

Maintaining houses for better health, Survey-Fix 1 team. Picture from the CHAC website

Healthabitat thinks it is brilliant to see Housing for Health being used for cyclical maintenance. We know that maintenance is the biggest issue when it comes to reduced house function. 74% of issues nationally were a result of lack of routine maintenance. Bravo CHCA and teams!

Read the CHCA post below or read it on their website;

This year CHCA established the ‘Maintaining Homes for Better Health’ (MHBH) project, based on the work of Healthabitat and the ‘9 Healthy Living Practices’

On October 19 2020, CHCA conducted the first ‘Survey – Fix’ event by inspecting, testing and fixing over 240 items across 60 of their community housing homes.

The work was completed by three ‘Survey – Fix’ teams which included Housing for Health Team Leaders, CHCA staff, local NT Environmental Health Officers and eight tenants. Teams completed basic repair works like changing shower heads and light globes, while urgent works were attended to by local plumbers and electricians.

Overall, CHCA properties scored well against the ‘9 Healthy Living Practices’ reflecting the organisation’s strong responsive and cyclical maintenance program. The property data collected during the surveys is now being used to inform future planned maintenance work.

CHCA aims to continue this MHBH project on an annual basis and the second ‘Survey – Fix’ will take place in early 2021.