Partnerships

• Introduction
• Becoming a Support Partner
• Existing Partnerships
• Working with our Support Partners
  

Introduction

SWISH provides accommodation in partnership with support agencies to ensure sustainable tenancies for very vulnerable people who may not be able to maintain a tenancy without support. Through these partnerships we provide housing to homeless people, people leaving the prison system, people with intellectual disabilities, women fleeing domestic violence, people with HIV Aids and more.

SWISH works closely with our support partners and this is attested to by very high satisfaction ratings by our support partners in our annual support partner survey.

Existing Partnerships

SWISH has formal partnerships with the following organisations:

Becoming a Support Partner

SWISH welcomes enquiries from support agencies wishing to discuss a partnership. As we have limited housing stock we cannot meet all needs. Before we enter a partnership SWISH will discuss available opportunities with potential support partners. SWISH undertakes an assessment of an agency's capacity to provide a sustainable tenancy, through a Support Partner Assessment Form

How SWISH works with our Support Partners

The Mercy Arms, the Community Restorative Centre and Centacare describe their relationship with SWISH.

The Mercy Arms
The Mercy Arms, a non-government organisation based in Waterloo, provides assistance with care and housing for older people in the inner-city area of Sydney and has worked with SWISH for over five years.

Ruth Melville, Coordinator Assistance with Care and Housing for the Aged says:"For more than five years Mercy Arms has had a partnership agreement with SWISH to provide housing and support for homeless men and women. SWISH has been a very important part of enabling older people to move out of homelessness and into secure, quality housing.

Many people housed under our agreement have never previously been able to sustain a tenancy, and the staffs of SWISH are always professional in their response to any housing issue."

Community Restorative Centre (CRC)
CRC Accommodation Service provides supported housing for men and women exiting jail. Making the transition from life in the prison system to living in the community can often be extremely challenging with many barriers to overcome.

Julia Davis, Accommodation Service Coordinator, describes CRC's work with SWISH: "Many of our clients are likely to suffer from a mental illness, have drug or alcohol problems, poor education and literacy levels and lack social skills. CRC assists this group of marginalised people, not only to obtain accommodation and address the issues that have a negative impact on their lives, but also to support them through the often lengthy process of reintegration to the community.

SWISH provides an excellent service to this extremely disadvantaged client group who are often excluded from services all together. SWISH offers exceptional property and tenancy management, which provides clients/tenants with the highest standard of living and often the first community inclusion they have ever experienced. This in turn enables clients to feel a sense of pride and appreciation, which encourages rehabilitation and therefore reduces the likelihood of recidivism. Ultimately, through crime reduction, this benefits the whole community."

ALIVE (Adolescents Living Independently via Empowerment)
Centacare Catholic Community Services, Sydney's ALIVE (Adolescents Living Independently via Empowerment) Program's two partnerships with SWISH have been of great benefit for the young people we work with.

Bron Parker, Manager, Alive Program says: "All of our young people have been homeless or at risk of homelessness and most have high complex needs; SWISH provides the opportunity and access for nominated ALIVE and JTAP (Joint Tenancy Accommodation Program) Clients to be housed in affordable, stable accommodation. This does allow these young people to really pursue their goals, build networks and support in a community. SWISH's assistance, flexibility and professionalism has been of great value to the ALIVE staff and clients."

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