DHA Annual Report 2012

Our capabilities

The primary role of DHA is to supply housing and related services to Defence members and their families in accordance with the DHA Act 1987, in response to the Defence Housing Forecast and in accordance with supply agreements with the Department of Defence.

The following capabilities are required to meet this role:

• Property and tenancy management—DHA provides housing allocation and tenancy management services to Defence members and their families.
• Property provisioning—DHA buys land and with the assistance, as necessary, of the
• private sector, develops and constructs houses and, as required, purchases new and established houses.
• Sale and Leaseback program—DHA generates capital to meet its provisioning commitments by promoting its Sale and Leaseback program (SLB) through the media and, through a variety of channels, selling houses and leasing them back
• on long-term agreements.
• Lease management—DHA manages more than 12,000 leases,
• extends existing leases and negotiates new leases to meet requirements.
• Portfolio management—DHA manages its owned portfolio of housing retained
• for investment reasons (rather than selling under the SLB program).

In all five areas DHA has invested in the recruitment of skilled and committed people
to ensure it remains a cost-effective supplier of high quality housing for Defence
personnel and their families.

Through a national network of Housing Management Centres (HMCs), DHA manages a total portfolio of 18,279 properties (as at 30 June 2012) valued at around $9.9 billion including off-base accommodation for Defence singles and dwellings held for the Australian Customs and Border Protection Service (Customs) and the Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA).

DHA stakeholders

DHA sits in the Defence portfolio. The Minister for Defence and the Minister for Finance and Deregulation are Joint Shareholder Ministers of DHA.

During the year, the DHA Board reported to the Hon. Stephen Smith MP, Minister for Defence, and Senator the Hon. Penny Wong, Minister for Finance and Deregulation, as Joint Shareholder Ministers of DHA. Responsibility for operational matters affecting DHA has been delegated to the Minister for Defence Science and Personnel, the Hon. Warren Snowdon MP.