RESIDENTIAL TENANCIES AUTHORITY

Grants recipients 2006

Fourteen community organisations have received part of a record grants funding budget of over $180,000 from the RTA. The successful organisations were chosen from a field of 32 applications requesting a total amount of $407,857.

The 2006-07 Grants Scheme was awarded to projects targeting a range of RTA priority target groups and geographical areas including:

$14,500 to Mental Health Association (Qld) to enhance relationships and understanding between tenants and landlords through providing communication skills training and tenancy law information to mental health consumers within the organisation's extensive networks.
$7,460 to Yarrabah Aboriginal Shire Council to educate tenants and housing providers within the Yarrabah Council area about their rights and responsibilities under the RTA legislation through the development and implementation of a number of community forums.
$1,980 to Central Queensland Community Legal Centre Inc. to better inform tenants in the Yepoon and Rockhampton area (with an emphasis on Indigenous tenants) about the processes of resolving disputes amicably via workshops which will focus on dispute resolution processes and options for tenants.
$14,660 to Residential Tenant Association Inc. to develop and provide workshops on tenancy rights and responsibilities to members of the Gold Coast community who are from a culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) background.
$15,000 to Palm Island Aboriginal Shire Council to raise awareness amongst tenants about their rights and responsibilities when renting a house from the Council; including the employment of a part-time Community Housing Education Officer, the convening of community forums and the development of hard copy material to be given to tenants.
$10,988 to Ugar Island Council to improve the Ugar Island community's understanding of their rights and responsibilities through a three-day education program involving a forum, social night and house visits to tenants.
$13,147 to Redcliffe Neighbourhood Centre and Assoc. Inc. for a six-month project aimed to assist residents of local caravan parks to understand their rights and responsibilities both while living at a caravan park and when confronted with the potential of a closure.
$20,000 to Interlink Housing and Support Assoc. Inc. and ACCESS Services Inc. to jointly work to increase knowledge and build community capacity in relation to tenancy issues by educating six new emerging refugee communities about their rights and responsibilities under the Residential Acts via community education sessions and the development and use of a pictorial tenancy information handbook translated into Swahili, Kirundi, Amharic, Arabic-Sudanese, Somali and Farsi.
$15,000 to Micah Projects Inc to protect residents' rights in making decisions relating to their accommodation and to increase service provider compliance with the Residential Services (Accommodation) Act 2002 statewide.
$10,510 to Acacia Ridge Community Support Inc. to increase tenancy knowledge of private/community sector and public housing tenants with an emphasis on tenants from culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) backgrounds and tenants experiencing mental health issues .
$15,084 to Ethnic Communities Council of Queensland (ECCQ) to improve support around tenancy issues for new and emerging communities through improved access to tenant advice and advocacy services.
$15,025 to Townsville Multicultural Support Group to empower newly arrived members from East and West Africa, Middle East and Pacific Islands to sustain their tenancies through providing information about their rights and responsibilities as tenants.
$11,485 to Picabeen Community Assoc. Inc. to update and enhance the North West Brisbane Youth Information Referral Card with an emphasis on tenancy rights for young people of Indigenous and culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) backgrounds.
$15,585 to Queensland Shelter to improve caravan park residents' knowledge of their rights and responsibilities through seven statewide workshops.