Ahout the Talk:

In common with experience in many other countries, social housing in both Australia and the UK has seen a long-term transition towards a cash-starved tenure in which access to tenancies is restricted to highly disadvantaged people. This has similarly transformed the role of social landlord organisations and their staff. Drawing on the presenter’s personal experience of managing social housing in the UK and representing social landlords in Australia, this seminar will focus on the pressures bearing down on social housing in the modern era and on what these mean for front-line housing management staff. In doing so, it will touch on the status and voice of social housing tenants, and on the realities of multi-agency working in addressing the tenant support needs and behaviour.

About the Speaker:

Wendy Hayhurst headed ‘industry peak bodies’ speaking for Australia’s not-for-profit housing sector for ten years to 2025. As CEO of the Community Housing Industry Association (2019-25), she advocated on behalf of member organisations managing over 100,000 homes across the country, representing their interests to the Australian Federal Government and its agencies, as well as to the finance sector and other stakeholder groups. Wendy’s early UK career saw her managing public housing estates in four London boroughs during the 1980s and 1990s, before a stint as Head of Housing Services for East Lothian Council in Scotland. She also spent five years as a housing consultant in the UK, and subsequently served as a social housing regulator in both the UK and Australia. Since 2025, Wendy has worked as a Policy Advisor to Josh Burns MP, the Australian Government’s Special Envoy for Social Housing and Homelessness.