This report outlines the critical role neighbourhood houses play in supporting digital inclusion in Victoria. Neighbourhood houses are not-for-profit, community-based centres that support skills development, social connection and community participation. The report has 6 recommendations that focus on investing in neighbourhood houses as critical community infrastructure.

Neighbourhood houses they have become one of the have become one of the main places where people at risk of digital exclusion go for help with their digital lives. They provide this help through a mix of structured digital skills classes and informal, one-on-one support. 

Based on a state-wide survey neighbourhood houses and in-depth case studies in Melbourne, the report shows digital skills support is now a core activity across the sector. 95% of surveyed neighbourhood houses provide some form of digital support, and most are doing more of it than ever. They are reaching groups most at risk of digital exclusion, including older people, people with disability, job seekers, public housing residents, and people from cultural and linguistic minorities.

The report’s in-depth case studies illustrate how digital skills support is highly complex, ongoing, relational labour. Because of their emplacement within local communities and their investment in building strong staff-student relationships, neighbourhood houses offer a safe space where people can ask questions and express concerns, and where they receive ongoing, in-person help that is hard to find elsewhere.

Despite the importance of their work, funding and resourcing are inadequate. A significant minority of neighbourhood houses reported providing digital support without dedicated funding, equipment is often outdated, and staff face growing administrative and compliance burdens that can be misaligned with the realities of digital support work.

To sustain the vital role that neighbourhood houses play in supporting digital inclusion, the report recommends:

• funding workforce capacity for digital support.
• formalising and resourcing point-of-need digital help.
• establishing a community connectivity and equipment fund.
• revising pre-accredited curricula and simplifying reporting and compliance.
• establishing a national digital inclusion ombudsman (or expanding an existing dispute resolution scheme) to resolve individual and systemic barriers to accessing services.