Since October 2022, Mission Australia Housing–Tasmania’s Home Handy Workshops and Tool Library have helped tenants and the wider community master home repair and trades skills. But the forging of bonds and development of self-esteem have been its greatest achievement, according to Stephen Dimsey.
The origins of the Workshops and Tool Library can be credited to Mission Australia Housing Tasmania’s assets team. As Mission Australia Housing Tasmania's Community Development Manager, Stephen Dimsey, explains, they were engaging tradespeople for heaps of small and (relatively) straightforward repair jobs that could have been performed by tenants. These tenants were willing but they lacked the know-how to get the job done.
“We noticed there were a lot of small issues tenants had to deal with—like scuff marks, blocked sinks, dints in walls, all those little jobs," says Stephen. "It's a tenant responsibility to repair them, but most tenants just don't have the skills or resources to do it.”
“For us as a housing provider, to get a plasterer in, they have to cut the hole on the wall; they have to repair it; they have to come back, do the sand-back, then the topping coat; and then you have to get a painter in for a couple of coats of paint. It's about five separate visits from trades. You know how much tradies are, and that's a tenant charge. For most people, including a lot of our tenants, that's a lot of money. It’s a big expense.”
“So, we set up a program called Home Handy Workshop," Stephen continues. "We went into neighbourhood centres, invited people along—not just our tenants but anyone in the community—and we teach them basic skills such as how to fix a hole in a wall, how to paint, how to stop draughts in your home... little things some people take for granted.”
The workshops are delivered in partnership with six neighbourhood centres between Clarendon Vale and Chigwell, an area spanning around 24 kilometres. Their success led to the creation of another vital engagement resource: the
Clarendon Vale Neighbourhood Centre Tool Library.
As Stephen explains, teaching people how to fish, as the saying goes, is one thing. Having the fishing rods available to catch the fish, is another.
“When we're doing these programs, people are absolutely loving it. We had full classes of between eight and 10 per class, but the problem was accessing the tools. That's when we sat down with Kristy Leishman, Manager at the Clarendon Vale Neighbourhood Centre, and worked out a strategy.”
Working hand-in-glove with the Home Handy Workshops, the Tool Library provides borrowing services for people who can't afford to buy their own hardware.
Stephen points out that Kristy Leishman’s involvement has been integral to the success of the Tool Library: “She has been so supportive of the whole program in relation to sitting down, working with me, designing the website, getting all the library cards set up, and making sure there's room for the tools within their community shed. It's been a really great collaboration.”
Furthermore, smarter technology has helped get the library established.
“We worked with Ryobi Tools and Bunnings to get the right tools," says Stephen. "They’re all battery plug-in—you don’t have to worry about electric cords or dangerous liquids—and we worked with our insurance broker to get the right insurance coverage. In the last three years, we've only had one broken guard on a whipper snipper, and that's because it hit a rock.”
The strategy behind the initiative has included leaving the Tool Library in the hands of the neighbourhood centres.
“We found a lot of people joining the Tool Library have never been to the neighbourhood centre before," Stephen admits. "They don't know about things, such as the food bank, how they can access No Interest Loan Scheme (NILS) loans, how they can join cooking programs, or bingo, or other social activities. So, this has brought a lot of people into these centres that haven't previously visited. And, the $25 a year for someone to join the Tool Library goes straight back into the neighbourhood centre itself.”
For Stephen, while it’s satisfying to be contacted by other groups around Australia wanting to implement something similar, seeing people feel more secure in their tenure and building confidence through skill development and new friendships are the real rewards. This is also the main reason why Mission's Home Handy Workshops and Tool Library won the 2023 ahi VIC/TAS Brighter Future award for Leading Community Engagement.
“I wanted the Tool Library to be set up so it could be duplicated anywhere. The website that we've got is very easily duplicated. The software for the click & collect was designed to be transported anywhere because, at the end of the day, regardless of whether it's Mission Australia or community housing or whatever group it might be, our role is to support our tenants. That's why it was set up in this way. The Tool Library has expanded to include two new centres with one at Wauchope and the other at Port Macquarie”
“I'm really proud of the program,” Stephen concludes. “I'm proud of the community that's running it, and yeah, it's exciting.”
The ahi Brighter Future Awards 2025 are now underway! Visit
https://www.theahi.com.au/brighter-future-awards to find out more.
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