CHRIS CHAPLIN

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Email: chrisc@alumni.unimelb.edu.au

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/activ8/


 

 

Background

Chris’s expertise in the social housing and homelessness sectors over the last 30 years was developed across a range of senior roles (governance, strategy, policy and compliance, management, public policy, project management, teaching and research) and direct service delivery functions (tenancy management, front-line homelessness and assertive outreach, public housing support and advocacy, and student housing).

Chris was the Policy and Projects Officer for the peak community housing body in Victoria (now CHIA-Vic) from 2008-2011, including four months as acting Executive Officer; and he served as a director of the Australasian Housing Institute Ltd from 2015-2020 and as a judge for AHI’s Excellence in Social Housing Awards in 2015, 2017, 2019 and 2021. His engagement with so many Victorian, interstate and New Zealand housing providers – from the biggest Tier 1 organisations, to single-staff Tier 3 providers – plus his own diverse practitioner experience gives Chris a unique and specialist knowledge of the trans-Tasman social housing sector in all its forms.

Chris has a particular interest in – and commitment to – tenant engagement and participation, and the role of place management in facilitating this. He sees a strong parallel with consumer participation in the health sector: Chris was a consumer representative on the Board Clinical Safety and Quality Committee at the Austin Hospital (one of Australia’s leading public hospitals) from 2011 to 2020. He has presented a NSWFHA seminar on place management, and was the lead author of the place management section in the groundbreaking Kensington Redevelopment evaluation.

Skills and expertise

  • Corporate governance; strategic planning; business innovation; change management; experienced Company Secretary.

  • Risk management and OH&S frameworks; regulatory compliance & reporting; operational policies.

  • Writing and editing: Board reports, scoping briefs, special projects, annual reports.

  • Public policy research & analysis; government submissions and tenders; grant applications.

  • Conference and workshop facilitation; project development; project management.

Key achievements

  • Designed and wrote HousingFirst Ltd’s entire Board policy suite.

  • Designed, wrote and implemented HousingFirst’s Risk Management Framework, including Board policy, risk assessment criteria, risk register, risk treatment plan, staff engagement.

  • Co-author of the 200-page Evaluation of the Kensington redevelopment and place management models: Final Report (published 2018 by the Parliament of Victoria as a key public document).

  • Major consultancy for YWCA Housing’s transition from state-based jurisdictions to a unified national structure: mapped all housing policies & procedures against Housing Registrar requirements, and rewrote or created P&Ps to meet multiple state-based tenancy laws.

  • MC for the Australasian Housing Institute’s 2019 Excellence in Social Housing Awards Victorian Final.

  • Wrote or co-authored new constitutions for GeneEthics Ltd (2020), Australasian Housing Institute Ltd (2017), HousingFirst Ltd (2017); coordinated and completed GeneEthics Ltd’s successful application to the ACNC for registration as a charity (2020).