Andrea Sharam is no stranger to an award win or two. Her groundbreaking housing research and policy leadership over nearly three decades— particularly when it comes to women, housing and homelessness in Australia — is highly regarded by peers and government departments alike. HousingWORKS talks to her about adding an ahi: Brighter Future award to her mantlepiece.
“It's always very gratifying to win an award, but this is very special because it comes from the social and affordable housing industry itself,” explains Andrea Sharam on her 2023 ahi: Brighter Future award for Outstanding Achievement VIC/TAS.
Leading a collaboration of Australian and New Zealand industry stakeholders and academics, Andrea and her colleagues developed what she describes as "a different kind of product for the sector", the Asset Management for Social Housing manual.
"It’s the first publicly available asset management resource written specifically for social housing providers."
As the project's nomination for the award states, “It’s the first publicly available asset management resource written specifically for social housing providers. And Dr Sharam provided a high level of leadership – in initiating and managing this project, contributing intellectual property, writing chapters and making financial resources available.”
The genesis of the book lies in a 2021 research project led by Andrea:
Towards an Australian Social Housing Best Practice Asset Management Framework. The research highlighted critical issues affecting asset management, including the lack of industry-specific training, the (incorrect) perception of asset management as property maintenance, limited career pathways beyond moving to and from the private and social and community housing sector, and education and training focused more on engineering than property development and management.
"Andrea’s 2021 report found that leading asset managers in the community sector were often frustrated by boards failing to understand their existing liabilities."
Furthermore, Andrea’s 2021 report found that leading asset managers in the community sector were often frustrated by boards failing to understand their existing liabilities, and the need for a systematic approach to asset management. To this end, she emphasises the manual’s audience isn’t limited to asset managers; there’s also plenty of information and insights for governing bodies and other internal stakeholders who need to have a better understanding of their organisation’s physical assets and how to effectively manage them.
Drawing on the ISO55000 standard for Asset Management and the International Infrastructure Management, the Manual offers essential guidance on key areas of asset management for social housing providers. It includes content on how to develop cost-effective, long-term asset management strategies, linking service standards to performance, the principles of risk management, developing financial plans, and incorporating cultural and sustainability values into their planning and policies.
At the heart of it all, its aim is to elevate asset management across the sector and, in the process, inspire excellence in asset management; a lofty ambition but one that instills Andrea with great pride.
"We have huge number of assets that are ageing. There needs to be a strategy and investment into that, and the people who look after them need to be valued more."
“Asset managers within the social housing sector are looking after around $135 billion worth of assets, but it's an issue that really doesn't get on people's radars very much,” she says. “Lots of the research, and lots of the attention goes onto the tenant side. While that's justified, we have huge number of assets that are ageing. There needs to be a strategy and investment into that, and the people who look after them need to be valued more."
"I think we've been able to bring attention to the capital side of the business, so that was a significant thing for me in terms of being recognised and doing good work.”
Elevating the importance and influence of asset management in social and affordable housing is the latest cause célèbre for Andrea. As far back as 2008, she played a key role in highlighting what was then a looming crisis for women’s housing.
“Probably one of the most significant things that I've done is, for quite some time, I was really the first person who started looking at older women and moving into homelessness,” she admits. “I was the person who said there would be a tsunami of older women [moving into homelessness], and I did a number of reports after saying that. That is definitely the number one housing and homelessness issue with community and with policy makers. So, it's very gratifying to see that issue receiving attention.”
"Housing has always been a crisis when you're on the front line."
“Of course, it's still not receiving the solutions that are required, and there's a lack of political will, which is being overridden by a good dose of ideology about the role of government in our housing markets," she continues. "But housing has always been a crisis when you're on the front line; you don't think about just how many people are coming in a door, you just know you've always had people who've come to the door and haven't been helped."
"What's happening now is there is a much greater degree of policy making attention to housing that didn't exist maybe even five years ago. Suddenly, it's a huge political issue, and governments are wanting answers and are seeking answers. The current work I'm doing is very much about that.”
After more than three decades in the industry, making a difference is still an important motivating factor for Andrea.
“The thing that does get me out of bed — and I think there'd be lots of people in the social housing sector [who feel the same] — you want to do good things for the community. There are people out there who need solutions, so I'm highly motivated to find solutions to the many problems within housing. It's really a privileged position to be able to look at those problems in detail in order to find solutions, even if I'm not successful at trying to get people to take up those solutions.”
In closing, Andrea says her greatest fear is, after all the hard yards, the manual gets left on the shelf to gather dust.
“More effective asset management is an issue which we now have to keep alive,” she says with passion. “We've done a manual, organisations have purchased it, and hopefully some of them are implementing a lot of it, but we really need organisations to purchase it and keep using it."
"The danger of this kind of work is that it just sits in the bottom drawer and doesn't actually get used. So, we have a challenge ahead of us to keep it current, but also keep it in the front of people's minds that this is a tool that they need to be using.”
The Asset Management for Social Housing Manual is available as an online subscription. Content will be regularly updated, ensuring it retains currency and continues to reflect best practice.
The ahi: Brighter Future Awards will be taking place again in 2025
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