Alexandra (Alex) Gibson’s work in managing the development of the Northern Territory’s first Community Housing Industry Development Plan (IDP) caught the eye of the judges for the Outstanding Achievement category at the SA/NT ahi: Brighter Future Awards. She tells us about it.
Furthermore, the success of the IDP project secured a commitment from the NT Government to establish an industry peak body, as well as ongoing training through the ahi:, and a range of initiatives designed to boost recruitment and improve employee retention in the sector.
Originally a lawyer working in native title for over 10 years, housing — and, by extension, the not-for-profit space — had always been on Alex’s radar. The chance to move from the legal sector and work with NT Shelter was the perfect opportunity for her.
“The shift to housing gave me the chance to really broaden my skillset,” she explains. “I've been really lucky to work under people like
Peter McMillan at NT Shelter and then Karen [Walsh] who placed a lot of confidence and faith in me and allowed me to develop a whole lot of new skills, which are transferrable.”
"Alex may have been new to community housing, but her abilities were already evident, and ably supported by some mentoring from the most respected names in NT housing."
As for how she became involved in the IDP, Alex had been working on a different project for NT Shelter in 2021 when the Northern Territory Government approached them to manage the development of the Plan. Alex may have been new to community housing, but her abilities were already evident, and ably supported by some mentoring from the most respected names in NT housing, particularly
John McBryde.
“He was wonderful in talking through so much information with me,” she admits. “He'd previously been the CEO of Community Housing Central Australia and now has his own consultancy. So, he was a real font of knowledge for me and just an all-round very enjoyable person to work with.”
The contribution of the IDP and its flow-on effects in the Territory have been immense. When Alex and her team at NT Shelter started the project, only eight registered community housing providers (CHPs) existed in the NT. Over the course of the IDP’s development, an additional seven CHPs have now registered––including Aboriginal CHPs, accomplished Tier 1 providers from other states, and organisations operating in regional and remote settings.
Alex coordinated a series of workshops to develop the details of the Plan––two online and two in person. As well as giving NT CHPs the chance to contribute to the content of the IDP and hear from interstate CHPs with experience in these kinds of projects, the workshops provided invaluable opportunities to establish connections across the NT sector—some of which have resulted in ongoing partnerships between organisations, as well as expanding their awareness of community housing in the NT and in a national context.
As Karen noted in Alex’s nomination for the award, "The development of the IDP was a key point of engagement for CHPs, whether they were registered prior to the commencement of the project or achieved registration during the course of its development.”
"[I] became involved in this very passionate, dynamic team who were really keen to see community housing come to the fore in the Northern Territory."
“The first part of the project was really just bringing together all of the then-registered community housing providers in the NT, which at that point in time was a pretty small group, and to take on feedback from them about what they wanted in an IDP,” adds Alex. “It was great because I made all of these connections with community housing providers, and just became involved in this very passionate, dynamic team who were really keen to see community housing come to the fore in the Northern Territory, and have the role that it plays recognised and promoted."
“There were CEOs and senior people who gave of their time genuinely wanting to see this project succeed, and to have it lift the profile of community housing up here,” she continues. “There are lots of people up here who are really passionate, really driven, really want to see capability and capacity developed, and to show what community housing can do, particularly compared to, I guess, social housing that's run by the government.”
As well as John McBryde, Alex was keen to highlight the contribution of
Carol Atkinson to the IDPs ongoing success.
"How do we build workforce capability and capacity? How do we make sure it's tailored to the NT context?"
“She has been terrific because she’s done a lot of advocacy work, and ran this terrific two-day workshop where she got interstate assistance, particularly from CHIA NSW, to come up and do a real deep-dive into what we need to do to attract people to the sector. How do we build workforce capability and capacity? How do we make sure it's tailored to the NT context?”
“We have a very large Aboriginal tenant base, so we’re trying to make sure we attract Aboriginal people to the workforce,” says Alex. “Carol drew in people from the most incredibly broad range of departments. It was wonderful because it was just super informative. I think it has really opened up lines of inquiry, and given some good information about how we can build the workforce capacity, which was a big focus of the IDP when it was being developed.”
From a career perspective, Alex is very grateful for the opportunity this project presented: “The IDP project really allowed me to broaden the experience that I had developed from the initial work I was doing with NT Shelter. It also allowed me to work with so many great people - –like Karen [Walsh] and then John [McBryde] and CEOs across different organisations up here, like TeamHEALTH and Community Housing Central Australia.”
“All these people gave me a lot of their time and experience and enthusiasm. It demonstrated to me how passionate people are in this sector, and how committed.”
Given Alex was unable to attend the SA/NT ahi: Bright Future Awards ceremony, former ahi: CEO Kellie Dunn was given the honours of presenting her with her trophy at the actual launch of the Industry Development Plan in 2023. Alex acknowledges the fortunate timing, which allowed not just Kellie to be there but also the former Minster for Urban Housing, Ngaree Ah Kit.
"More than a little of her heart will always remain in the housing sector."
Today, she has transitioned from housing into governance as Company Secretary and Governance Manager with Danila Dilba Health Service, but more than a little of her heart will always remain in the housing sector. She says that seeing the dedication, commitment and enthusiasm of frontline workers puts a different perspective on her achievement––so much so that she believes her colleagues in operation roles are deserving of as much recognition as she has achieved through her award.
“You need projects like the IDP––they're really important and it's really pleasing to see those sorts of projects get recognition––but, nearly every day, someone comes in who has a pretty standout issue that they need resolved, and the staff in our office… they're so helpful. They just take it on board and work through getting people the best service, trying to find them a home that works for them, that suits their needs and make sure they're happy, and feel safe and content.”
“It’s amazing work that people are doing, and quite often working with tenants who have a really broad range of needs, some really high needs. Yeah, I really do think it's pretty phenomenal the work that gets done, particularly at that operational level.”
“It’s tough work,” she wraps up. “It's pretty thankless and giving people some real recognition for doing a hard slog a lot of the time is really nice.”
The ahi: Brighter Future Awards will be taking place again in 2025
