Assessment policy

Background

The National Regulatory Code sets out the performance outcomes and requirements that must be met by registered community housing providers under the National Regulatory System for Community Housing.

Community housing providers must demonstrate their capacity to comply with the Code on application and once registered, must demonstrate ongoing compliance with the Code.

Assessment is undertaken in the context of the community housing provider’s business with an understanding of the provider’s scale and scope, operating environment, business plan and outcomes, and history of delivering community housing. 

Definitions

Below is a list of terms, keywords and/or abbreviations used throughout this document.

Purpose and scope

The purpose of this assessment policy is to achieve a consistent approach to completing assessments and exercising regulatory judgement.

This policy is to be used by housing providers, analysts, managers and Registrars to provide guidance through the registration and compliance assessments. It details the types of regulatory assessments undertaken under the NRSCH, the assessment process, and the additional sources of information and evidence that may be used to assess the provider’s compliance with the National Regulatory Code.

This policy provides guidance on how performance outcomes and overall / final determination outcomes are determined and reported. It also provides information about issuing assessment recommendations and observations.

Business rules

• Registrars will manage assessments in accordance with the provisions of Part 3 of the Community Housing Providers National Law (the National Law)
• assessments will be carried out by the Registrar in the provider’s primary jurisdiction in a consistent way with other  jurisdictions
• all applications, documentation and evidence will be submitted to the Primary Registrar, ensuring that all assessments and reporting activities will only need to be completed once by each provider, regardless of how many participating jurisdictions they operate in
• all assessments will be recorded in the Community Housing Regulatory Information System (CHRIS).

Policy statement

The legislation requires Registrars to conduct a:

• registration assessment to assess the suitability of entities to be registered as registered community housing provider
• compliance assessment to monitor compliance by registered community housing providers with community housing legislation.

(Section 10 – National Law)

Principles

Broad principles of good regulation underpin the National Regulatory Code and also inform, and are applied, in the NRSCH Assessment policy.

• Proportionate – Assessments will reflect the scale and scope of regulated activities and consider what is reasonable to expect from a provider given its size, type and scope of business
• Accountable –  Assessments will be justifiable and subject to scrutiny
• Consistent – There will be a consistent approach to assessments in all participating jurisdictions based on standardised information and methods
• Transparent – There will be clear and open communication with providers about assessment processes and the reasons for determinations
• Flexible – Assessments will not be prescriptive and will recognise that providers have flexibility to organise their business so long as they meet their legislative, regulatory and contractual obligations 
• Targeted – Assessments will be targeted to requirements under the National Law and the National Regulatory Code and will be focused on the core purpose of improving tenant outcomes and protecting vulnerable tenants, protecting government funding and equity, and ensuring investor and partner confidence.