How to become an emergency housing supplier

Follow the steps on this page to become an emergency housing supplier. This includes registering as a supplier and opting in to our supplier standards.

Step 1 - You must be a registered supplier

If you're already registered as a Work and Income supplier, you can skip this step.

If you're not already registered as a Work and Income supplier, you'll need to register as one. This is so you can receive payments on the client's behalf.

Register as a Work and Income supplier

Step 2 - Request to opt in to our supplier standards

We'll only use suppliers who are opted in to our supplier standards, except in certain situations. This gives opted-in suppliers an advantage in their local market.

When you request to opt in you're declaring that you:

  • understand and are meeting the standards
  • will continue to meet the standards going forward, and
  • will tell us if any issues come up that mean you may no longer meet a standard.

How to request to opt in

To request to opt in you need to:

  • be a commercial or community based accommodation supplier
  • read our supplier standards
  • print off and complete the 'Emergency Housing supplier standards opt in' form
    • you must be the accommodation owner or someone authorised to act on their behalf, and
  • scan and email the form to us (select the correct email address below).

Read our supplier standards

What happens if you're not opted in to the standards

Who to email

You need to email your 'Emergency Housing supplier standards opt-in' form to us. Which email you use depends on what area you're in.

What happens next

Once we receive your opt-in form, we:

  • will look at any existing information we have about your accommodation
  • will consider if you’ve previously opted in to the standards and been declined, removed or suspended, and why, and
  • may ask you for more information - if we cannot confirm this over the phone, we may request to visit you on-site.

If you don't give us information we ask for, we may decline your request to opt in.

If you meet the standards, we’ll send you a letter to let you know your request has been approved.

If we think your accommodation doesn't meet the standards, we'll consider declining your request. We'll send you a letter to let you know this and why.

We’ll let you know the outcome within 20 working days.

If we think you don't meet the standards

We'll consider declining your opt in request

If we think your accommodation doesn't meet the standards, we'll consider declining your request. We'll send you a letter to let you know this and why.

You’ll have an opportunity to respond to our concerns before we make our final decision. 

We may think you don't meet the standards because:

  • we hold information (like a previous complaint) that means we think you don't meet the standards
  • we've consulted with regional staff who think you don't meet the standards, or
  • you previously met the standards but you breached them and this hasn’t been resolved.

You can respond to us

The letter we sent you will tell you how you can respond and when you need to respond by.

If we think your response:

  • addresses the concerns we've raised and you do meet the standards, we'll approve your request
  • doesn't address our concerns, we'll ask for more information or decline your request. 

If you don't respond, or if our concerns aren't resolved, we'll decline your request.

We'll send you a letter to let you know the outcome.

If your opt in request is declined

We'll send you a letter to let you know you've been declined and why.

You can reapply again following the same process. We'll consider whether you've addressed the concerns we had the last time you applied. If you haven't, we will decline your request again.

If you don't agree with our decision to decline your request, you can make a complaint. 

Making a complaint