Aboriginal Housing Victoria is a registered community housing association in Victoria, Australia. Hear about their experience in building organisational capacity and in preparing for registration as part of a planned transfer of 1,300 public housing tenancies from the Office of Housing. The first tranche of these properties has been handed over to AHV. An especially relevant experience and story for New Zealand at this time.
Go here for more information and to register.
About Jenny Samms
CEO, Aboriginal Housing Victoria
Board Director, AFL SportsReady
Adjunct, School of Political & Social Inquiry, Monash University
Member, Ministerial Family Violence Housing Assistance Implementation Taskforce
Member, Monash University Indigenous Advisory Council
Fellow, Institute of Public Affairs & Administration (Victorian Branch)
Jenny Samms is the CEO of Aboriginal Housing Victoria (AHV). AHV manages over 1500 properties, housing more than 4000 Aboriginal Victorians which is roughly 8% of the population. Many of these people experience complex problems and come from inter-generational disadvantage. AHV works hard with tenants to provide stable housing because it is the necessary pre-condition for strong families, education and employment success and providing people with the power to live the life they choose.
Jenny’s professional career has spanned nearly 40 years in the Commonwealth and Victorian public services. She has held a number of senior executive positions, focussing on developing and implementing improved educational and employment opportunities for all Victorians.
After undertaking a range of roles in the Departments of Labour and Education, Jenny moved to the Department of Premier and Cabinet where she led the social policy area. She then took up the position of Deputy Secretary in the Department of Education and Training, where she was responsible for strategy and review across the educational system. Her next move was to the Department of Planning and Community Development’s Commonwealth Games team, as the Director of Policy and Programs.
More recently she was the Executive Director for the Task Force on Aboriginal Affairs where she was responsible for overseeing a whole of government strategy to better target public investment and achieve improved outcomes for Indigenous Victorians. Her passion for education, improving opportunity and delivering services to the community that create better social outcomes, continued through her role as a Strategic Adviser for the Victorian Aboriginal Legal Service and currently as the CEO at Aboriginal Housing Victoria.
