No, there is no bond.
There is no time limit to your tenancy with us. This is long term housing.
All of our housing is located in the City of Port Phillip: most in the suburbs of South Melbourne, Port Melbourne, and Albert Park.
There’s not a lot of difference. Community housing and public housing both provide long term, secure housing at an affordable rent based on your income. Community housing has more options for single person households. We are able to provide more individual support to tenants. And any surplus income is used to build or purchase new community housing. We have taken on/constructed 71 new units in the last three years.
New tenants are required to pay at least one week in advance; preferably two weeks if on a fortnightly pension or benefit.
Some of our housing is suitable for tenants to have pets. There are strict conditions. Pets must be cared for; must be suited to the size of the premises; must not disturb neighbours. An application must be made. Inquire to Housing Program.
Repairs can be reported to our office 9:30am to 4:30pm and to our Call Centre after hours. If you have an urgent after hours repair, please call our office on 03 9696 1128 and follow the prompts to be put through to our after hours service.
Urgent repairs that are about bad water leaks, failure of gas, electricity, water, a failure that makes your premises unable to be secured, a blocked or broken toilet, or significant damage from things like storms, will be repaired in accordance with the Act within 24 hours.
Other repairs have different time lines- ask the Housing Program team.
Most of our housing is rented to you fully furnished. That includes bed, bedside table, couch or large easy chair, coffee table, refrigerator, dining table, two chairs, fitted wardrobe. Yes, please let us know when you sign up if you want to bring you own bed, or couch, or other furniture.
Rent increases/reviews only ever happen once per year. 60 days notice in writing is given.
New tenants must meet General Public Housing income but if existing tenants get a job they can stay. Rent will increase according to the new income, however. 25% of income or market rent (as set by the State Government) is charged, whichever is lower.
Friends and relatives can stay over occasionally, however they must respect the rights of others the same as a tenant must. ‘Occasionally’ means no more than one or two nights in a week or brief visits of no more than a week. Special circumstances on a one-off basis can be negotiated by discussing with the Housing Program. A tenant is responsible for the behaviour of their visitor.
Friends and relatives may not move in. Most our housing is for single person occupancy only. All new tenants must apply through standard processes.
Our staff are professionally trained and have good knowledge of local health services. Talk to us. Or check the resources listed on this website.
Step One is talk to your neighbour and explain gently that their behaviour is causing you problems. If that fails, please talk to our Housing Program staff.
Contact the Housing Program and a statement will be printed. It is useful to come in to our office to discuss this.
Contact the Housing Program. We will always negotiate repayment arrangements when a tenant lets us know what’s going on for them, and regularly stays in touch.
We do have policies that allow people to register their interest to ‘graduate’ up to a bigger place after a significant period of stable tenancy with us. Ask Housing Program team for more details.
We do more than provide accommodation, we are committed to creating a place to call home.
South Port Community Housing Group would like to acknowledge that we operate here today on the land of the traditional owners of this land, the Yalukit Willam clan of the Boon Wurrung. We pay our respect to their elders, past and present. We recognise and respect the significance of their cultural heritage and relationship with the land as we work from the historic meeting place of Emerald Hill. © South Port Community Housing Group Inc.
