Report from the 2017 CHA conference

With 300 people joining us at our conference last week this was an amazing event.

Thank you to all of you who took part and engaged with the content to make this our best conference yet. And a big thank you to all our sponsors, listed below, for helping to make this happen.

Highlights of the conference included the opening day plenary session with Girol Karacaoglu, David Rutherford and Hurimoana Nui Dennis. This very grounded and heartfelt session reminded us why we do what we do, the interconnection of well-being with areas including but not limited to housing, and housing as a human right and foundation of life.

The announcement by Justin Lester to recycle unused office blocks into affordable housing focused media coverage, as did Alfred Ngaro’s apology to the sector.

Hearing the various politicians on the Wednesday night debate find moments of congruence in their solutions for New Zealand’s housing crisis, and their genuine desire to find solutions, was positive. Does this lay the way for a homes accord that reaches beyond Government to the rest of the country?

Mike Myers encouraged the sector to think of ourselves as the community housing industry stating that then we might betaken more seriously. Together with Kaye Saville Smith, he provided some very practical insights. Mike Myers was interviewed by RNZ Saturdays with Kim Hill which will air this Saturday 17 June.

The serene and wise words from Nan Roman on how the US had addressed homelessness reminded us that we all have a place in addressing housing need but that evidence and planning were key. She made many very practical and thoughtful observations in the workshops. Nan Roman talked to Radio NZ nights during the conference and you can listen to this here.

We’ve taken encouragement from this conference as a clear mandate to go forward, with the vision of Our Place – to see all New Zealanders well housed, at the fore front.

You can find the conference presentations here.

“The IMPACT conference was absolutely fantastic and I feel honoured to have been able to attend and hear from and meet many knowledgeable people who have connections to the housing sector.

I can’t applaud you more highly on the programme. Each session built up slightly more from the one previously, and the discussion points for the plenaries and workshops also built up over the conference adding value and insight with each session.

You did very well to cover a range of topics for different interests that all tied back into the topic of homelessness.

The speakers offered a variety of views and ideas to get us all thinking, talking – and hopefully acting! And they were very high quality speakers so well done on the selections you made.

Thank you Scott and the team, it really was a brilliant conference and you guys nailed it!”

Laura Rutten City Housing – Wellington City Housing