Our Purpose

We provide affordable, safe and secure homes for South Australians on low incomes. We build partnerships to create tenancies that promote independence and viable and sustainable communities.

Unity Housing - a social landlord

Unity Housing aims to help people enjoy healthy and fulfilled lives. For us that starts with a good home, but often that is not enough so we also work to provide broader opportunities to help meet the existing and future needs of our tenants. Housing is more than just the physical dwelling, it is also about environments, people and places where tenants want to live and become involved in the community.

Social landlords have a crucial role to play in promoting social inclusion and addressing barriers to accessible, safe and secure housing. This role involves much more than just providing an affordable house or a bed to sleep in.

Successful neighbourhoods depend on more than just bricks and mortar. Unity Housing is committed to fostering a culture of mutual respect between tenants and local communities.

In 2009, Unity Housing established the Community Connect Program to focus on sustaining tenancies and reducing the need for crisis intervention. This initiative involves working with tenants in our boarding houses, community housing and affordable housing.

Community Connect staff assist tenants who are particularly vulnerable and marginalised due to a history of homelessness and/or are living with disability. The program provides a linkage point for tenants into local community activities and support services, with the overall aim of raising the profile of Unity Housing tenants as positive contributors to the social fabric of the city.

Connecting tenants to others – often people in the neighbourhood – can be the first step towards stripping away some of the stigma of being homeless while increasing confidence, building new skills and rediscovering old ones.

Unity Housing’s Community Connect Strategy has been developed to assist our existing and future tenants to become active citizens in the communities in which they live. We embrace a philosophy that all actions and tenancy management decisions support social inclusion, and the independence, preferences and individuality of people living in our properties.

The Community Connect Committee oversees the delivery of the Community Connect Strategy and provides a forum where experiences and knowledge can be shared; facilitates discussions and debate; and contributes to a collaborative and cohesive approach across the wider organisation.

To ensure tenants receive the support necessary to sustain their tenancies, we have close working relationships with support providers. Our dedicated staff are committed to making a difference, sustaining tenancies where possible so that we can:

  • help people on low wages having difficulty making ends meet;
  • provide housing that is safe and suitable for people living with disabilities;
  • ensure older people are able to feel safe in worry-free housing;
  • support people in our community experiencing mental health problems; and
  • help children get a better start in life and support young people starting out on their career journey.

None of this is possible without the enthusiastic support and commitment of our staff, partners and tenants.