Making it easier for providers of community housing-related services to connect and collaborate is the aim of a new information tool launched by the New Zealand Council of Christian Social Services (NZCCSS).

The NZCCSS Housing and Support Providers Tool draws together an extensive range of publicly available information to identify community housing across the motu. The data can be configured into user-customised tables and charts displaying providers, location, types of services and specialist demographics throughout the country.

NZCCSS Kaiwhakahaere Nikki Hurst says the Tool is a sector first in corralling such extensive data in one place. “The Tool came about through our own need to know who is doing what and where in the community housing sector, and the subsequent discovery that no such centralised resource was available. It builds on the deeply useful existing databases, serving to collate these into one tool.”

The NZCCSS Housing and Support Providers Tool captures 200 services providers including:

• Community Housing Providers (CHPs)
• providers of Emergency and Transitional housing
• Housing First facilitators
• financial and support programme coordinators
• builders
• consultants
• researchers.

“There’s no easy solution to the housing challenges in Aotearoa,” says Hurst. “And the innovations needed to make real inroads will take a collaborative effort by all types of providers. Our hope is that the Tool will help fuel that collaboration and ultimately, the innovation that will see significant progress in addressing housing insecurity.

The Tool is delivered via a downloadable Excel file and NZCCSS will update the data every six months.

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