SGCH has celebrated a major milestone – 40 years of delivering safe, sustainable and affordable homes, building thriving communities across Australia.

More than 150 partners, customers and long-serving team members gathered at our anniversary stakeholder event to reflect on our journey from humble beginnings.

In 1985, our founder Frank Baker realised a dream from a back veranda in the St George area. We started with just 25 homes then. Today, we deliver over 7,000 properties across Sydney, Melbourne and soon Brisbane, providing homes for more than 11,500 people.

On the night, guests heard a powerful customer story from Lucie, who had moved seven times in just 10 years with her family. Moving into SGCH’s newest social and affordable housing property in Marrickville has been lifechanging: “I have security. I have stability. That’s huge for me, because for the last ten years I haven’t had it. I feel like I’ve been given a new opportunity.”

The NSW Minister for Homes, the Hon. Rose Jackson said SGCH was a “shining star of the community housing sector”, paying tribute to the quality of the homes we deliver and the communities we create.

She also reflected on the impact we have made on people like Lucie. “Lucie felt like she was doing everything right. She was doing the things the Australian dream told her she should be doing. This home provided an opportunity for her. It gave her the security and stability she hadn’t had. So now, she is able to live close to where she works. Her kids are able to live closer to school. Just that extra time in each other’s lives is transformational.”

SGCH Board Chair Karen Orvad and CEO Debi Marriott-Lavery recognised the visionaries who shaped SGCH and reaffirmed our commitment to innovation, partnership and putting people at the heart of everything we do. And we remembered the late Nazha Saad, our former CEO whose empathy and consideration for customers still resonates with so many today. We owe Nazha a debt of gratitude for where we are in 2025. 

SGCH was honoured by the presence of Housing Australia CEO Scott Langford, CEO Homes NSW Rebecca Pinkstone, the Hon Scott Farlow NSW Shadow Minister for Housing, Zhi Soon Federal Member for Banks, Nathan Hagarty NSW Member for Leppington (who grew up in the Bonnyrigg Estate), Charishma Kaliyanda NSW Member for Liverpool and Mark Coure NSW Member for Oatley. 

Thank you to every customer, partner, team member and supporter who has played a role in our story.