Servants’ staff were honoured at this month’s national Brighter Future Awards, presented by the Australasian Housing Institute during AHURI’s 2023 National Housing Conference.

The awards, which recognise excellence in social and affordable housing across the country, are presented to employees and residents who embody the ‘brighter future’ of the sector across nine categories.

Servants Community Housing was featured in two of the award categories after Mikyla Battey and Jayden Battey were recognised as the regional winners for Victoria/Tasmania, in the Inspirational Team Member and Future Leader categories respectively.

According to the AHI, the Inspirational Team Member Award acknowledges a person who is passionate about their role and understands how it fits into the strategic outcomes of their organisation, and the values of social housing. They consistently demonstrate enthusiasm to add value to their role and motivate others within their team and/or organisation by the approach they take in their work.

Mikyla was, among other things, nominated for her leadership throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, engaging new businesses to partner with Servants and for her contributions to local government housing strategies across Melbourne’s south-east. Using her experience as a live-in house manager, she has been able to embed personal approaches to tenancy management throughout Servants, leading to residents growing in agency and independence.

The Future Leader award recognises industry professionals who have shown potential to excel as a future leader, with nominees deemed to have a future in General Management or C-suite level positions, and to one day have a significant impact on the sector. Jayden, who received both the regional VIC/TAS and National awards in this category, was selected for his work building long-term relationships with members at all levels of government, strategic leadership within Servants, and for his Masters thesis, which analysed the opportunities and challenges for community sector organisations in working with government to address homelessness in Victoria.