House with No Steps - 2017 Year in Review

About Us

As one of Australia's leading providers of disability services, we are dedicated to ensuring people with a disability have a fair go with greater choice, control, and freedom.

Andrew Richardson Managing Director

Welcome to our 2017 Annual Review. This was another amazing year for House with No Steps. Our team worked tirelessly to support our customers, champion their human rights, uphold our Values, and achieve the goals in our IMPACT Plan.

Achieving a high rate of growth

93% more NDIS customers

Being awarded NSW Government accommodation services

81 new group homes

Our commitment to strategic innovation and renewal

3 year plan

Evolving to meet the needs of our customer

Fit For Purpose

Investing in excellence

1500 Staff trained in customer service

In the fast-changing NDIS world, we need to challenge the status quo and find new ways to improve our customers' lives.

Innovating to stay ahead of the curve

This year we launched a new Innovation Hub, dedicated to developing new ideas to help HWNS adapt, respond, and evolve.

Celebrating the human rights of our diverse customers

Attended by over 78 people, our first Human Rights Conference explored issues including the NDIS, accommodation, self-advocacy, and sexuality.

By pursuing new partnerships and mergers, HWNS is working to expand, have a wider impact, increase our awareness, and grow our reputation.

HWNS takes on NSW Government services

From October 2017, HWNS will partner with Compass Housing to take over supported accommodation and respite services previously run by NSW Government.

Expanding our early childhood intervention services

HWNS has joined forces with Horizon Early Childhood Intervention, expanding our services to support an additional 89 children.

Expanding our footprint into Victoria and Tasmania

This year we opened a new Hobart office, and teamed up with Interchange Northern Region Inc to open up new opportunities in NE Melbourne.

Facility Services teams up with Vicinity Shopping Centres

HWNS will soon be providing landscaping, maintenance, cleaning, and recycling services to 30 Vicinity Shopping Centres across Qld and NSW.

Our success depends on our team, so we work hard to attract, develop, motivate, and retain the very best people.

Using technology to enhance customer support

Thanks to a recent upgrade to our client management system, CIMSability, we're now able to seamlessly share key information across departments.

Developing a Fit For Purpose operating model

After holding over 100 consultations with Support Services and Shared Services staff, we're working to transform our business.

We hold ourselves and each other accountable for actions and results. Every employee contributes to our success.

Bringing our commercial laundry up to speed

In April, we completed a major upgrade to our Newcastle commercial laundry, enabling us to process 56% more linen each week.

Keeping our performance in check with CQL

2016/17 marked our fourth year of accreditation with CQL, and saw us conduct 132 Personal Outcome Measures (POMs) interviews.

Arming managers with data to make good decisions

This year we introduced Tableau: a new business management dashboard that aggregates and analyses data so it's easier to use.

Making our fundraising count

Fundraising enables us to evolve, grow, and improve our services. This year we focused on the impact each fundraising investment is having.

Customers drive everything we do at HWNS. After all, our impact can only be as strong as our customer relationships.

Creating a customer centric organisation

This year we completed a critical piece of research into the customer decision-making process and began rolling out customer service training for our staff.

Reviewing and updating our whistleblowing processes

Late last year we revised our whistleblowing processes; ensuring we have the highest level of ethical practice.

Working towards reconciliation with our Indigenous communities

This year we developed a Reconciliation Action Plan; formalising our commitment to supporting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.

Technology enables excellence, growth, and profitability – and by using it strategically, we can lift our productivity, engagement, and outcomes.

Giving staff easier access with cloud computing

With 80 staff members having already switched to Office 365, we've well and truly begun the transition to cloud computing.

Getting rostering right with Riteq

Last year we started introducing a new system, Riteq, aiming to standardise our rostering so it's paperless and consistent throughout the organisation.

Thank you to our committed volunteers, donors, and everyone who has supported us over the year. Each of you help us to achieve our purpose.

This year our individual volunteers and organisations dedicated 22,311 hours of their time, such an amazing contribution!

29,961 generous supporters contributed over $4.6 million towards our services.

In total this financial year 24 community-minded organisations have volunteered a significant 2,388 hours with House with No Steps.