CHIA NSW Futures Workshop

Like many other industries, the community housing industry is facing a time of turbulence and uncertainty. Global megatrends are transforming technology, economics, institutions and society in ways that create opportunities and challenges for community housing in NSW. On 12 February 2026, the UTS Institute for Sustainable Futures (ISF) worked with the Community Housing Industry Association NSW (CHIA NSW) to offer senior leaders in the sector a course on Working with Community Housing Futures. 

The goal of the course was to build the capacity of leaders in the NSW community housing sector to incorporate futures thinking into their strategic and business planning. We supported participants to work with key futures concepts and apply methods such as horizon scanning, scenario planning and backcasting to guide strategic action.

Lead facilitator, Chris Riedy, said: 

Participant feedback was positive, showing a significant improvement in futures literacy after the workshop. Participants particularly valued the opportunity to interact and engage with each other while applying futures thinking to community housing. 

The workshop built on earlier work for CHIA NSW on the megatrends transforming community housing, led by ISF Research Director, Caitlin McGee. The report from this work was launched at the Community Housing 2025 conference, and a summary presentation is available here.

ISF offers capacity building in futures thinking and systems thinking in diverse sectors, from housing to health, and energy futures to water futures. We have existing 1 and 2 day courses that we can adapt for your needs, or we can build a bespoke offering.

If this is of interest, please contact Professor Chris Riedy, ISF Associate Director of Learning and Development, at: christopher.riedy@uts.edu.au