COVID CONTINUES...

In case you missed it. Here is our Press Release on FOPHV's response to the Covid crisis in conjunction with Hands off Public Housing and Defend and Extend Public Housing.
There seems to be a second wave coming, so the issue isn't going away....
As we have seen from overseas, for example New York - inequality is the big killer.

MEDIA RELEASE - FRIENDS OF PUBLIC HOUSING VICTORIA’S RESPONSE TO COVID 19. 

1.Public Housing has excelled at protecting public tenants, via built in safeguards such as rebated rents and comparative freedom from eviction. Public tenants unable to continue working because of the COVID crisis have had their rents automatically reduced. Only the Public Housing model has not needed the emergency government response of temporarily freezing rents and prohibiting evictions. 

2.The virus has exposed the weaknesses of the current neoliberal market-based housing model, on which the shift to private so-called Community or Social Housing is based. The present crisis shows that we need to be driven by social responsibility, and by practical, rather than ideological concerns. The very fact that we have subsidized alternative models like Community Housing and NRAS is because the market does not satisfy housing needs. Public Housing faces this truth by directly dealing with the demand for housing without a rake-off to the private sector. Public Housing is the superior model and will be more needed than ever in the aftermath of COVID 19. Take the example of New York, where the severe social inequality has dramatically increased the rate of COVID infections and now the subways and trains, which are home

to rough sleepers pose a health risk to all New Yorkers. Social inequity eventually impacts on all of us.

3.The Public Housing Renewal Program, which encompasses 14 estates in Victoria, is largely a cover for privatisation and should be dropped. Relocated tenants should be returned to their estates. We support the call for surplus public land to be used for Public Housing, not for Community, Social, or Affordable Housing. These are all code words for the privatisation of Public Housing or its replacement with inferior alternatives. We also support the proposals in NSW to refurbish rather than replace Public Housing estates, so long as the government does not engage in Public Private Partnerships resulting in privatisation by stealth. Many estates in Victoria scheduled for demolition are in fact not dilapidated ( eg Noone St Clifton Hill). Now is not the time for cosmetic upgrades. So long as these homes are safe and comfortable they should be left as they are, and attention be directed to building new Public Housing. 

4. It is likely that following this crisis there will be a recession or depression accompanied by rising unemployment. More people than ever will find themselves in housing stress. Guy Johnson, Professor of Urban Housing and Homelessness RMIT and Director of Unison Housing Research Lab, has conceded when examining the factors preventing homelessness that Public Housing excelled : "what stood out was Public Housing. The magnitude of its effect was many times greater than anything else." Now is the time for  governments to recommit to Public Housing. There is an urgent need for a National Public Housing Policy, which should include federal funding going to the state and territories.In addition we call for the

setting up of independent statutory Public Housing authorities at the state and territory level to administer this vital work. 

5.Another myth exploded by the pandemic has been that building new Public Housing has become unaffordable. As we have seen, there is money available. The federal government has made extraordinary expenditures to prop up the economy during this crisis. It depends on parliamentarians’ decisions on what policy and programs are supported and funded and how they are administered and delivered. The fact that  no money from the COVID stimulus package has gone into Public Housing is unconscionable and an act of shortsighted stupidity. Currently there are over 100,000 applicants,both adults and children on the Waiting  List in need of housing. Only 2.7 % of all housing in Victoria is Public Housing.

FRIENDS OF PUBLIC HOUSING VICTORIA. 

HANDS OFF PUBLIC HOUSING. 

DEFEND AND EXTEND PUBLIC HOUSING 

ENQUIRIES - housinghumanrights @gmail.com

PRESS RELEASE RE FEDERAL 'HOMEBUILDER SCHEME'

Friends of Public Housing Victoria in conjunction with Defend and Extend Public Housing, and Hands Off Public Housing, has been busy with a number of Press Releases. Here is our criticism of the post-pandemic 'HomeBuilder Scheme'. -  Jeremy Dixon, Fiona Ross.

  LEFT BEHIND - OUT IN THE COLD

Australia is in recession, a recession driving inequality and expected to deepen this year. 

Friends of Public Housing Victoria (FOPHV) urges the Federal government to increase its investment in genuine public housing. 

We need infrastructure to provide new public housing to all who need it as a key part of its post-Covid pandemic recovery. 

Investment in public housing would generate rapid job creation combined with long-term economic and social benefits.

It would reduce the scale of poverty and inequality by constructing energy-efficient public housing which would finally address the grossly unmet needs of thousands of people for safe and secure housing. 

Too many people were left behind before the Covid-19 pandemic with 1 in 8 living in poverty, the majority renters, and increasing homelessness.
Homeless people sleeping on the streets are the most visible sign of inequality in wealthy Australia. FOPHV says low-cost secure rental public housing is an essential foundation of a reshaped economy and a fairer, more just society. This is urgently needed as the ever-lengthening wait lists demonstrate. 

In the past 2 months already, due to the virus, 2.6 million people have lost their jobs or had their hours cut. Reserve Bank has cautioned that economic recovery following the Covid crisis has an “extremely high degree of uncertainty.”

Victoria alone needs 50,000 new public housing units. At $300,000 each, this would be an investment of 15 Billion. 

Instead the Coalition Federal Treasurer’s response ( 4.6.20 ) is to introduce the HomeBuilder scheme. Josh Frydenberg emphasised that the housing construction sector is in need of a stimulus package for fear that the sector will crash by the end of the year as a result of Covid pandemic. Due to its planned financial input of about $680 million, the Treasurer estimates 20,000 new buildings and 7,000 substantial renovations. He also makes the point that the Building and Construction Industry employs 9% of all workers.

FOPHV adds our voice to the widespread criticism of this scheme which will benefit only a small percentage of reasonably well-off home owners, while ignoring the far more urgent plight of those in desperate need of housing.

To make matters worse, no part of the Federal Government’s Covid Stimulus package of $268 Billion went to Public Housing! 

The government now has the opportunity to combine huge economic stimulus with desperately needed improved social outcomes. They can do this by direct expenditure on Public Housing. The long-term economic benefits of restoring social cohesion would be incalculable. 

By Public Housing we actually do mean Public Housing - owned and managed by state governments. Our experience has been that when Governments talk of ‘Social Housing’ they invariably mean private Community Housing businesses.To make matters more confusing, the term ‘Public Housing’ has recently been hijacked to mean Community Housing. 

We need clear and honest language to discuss public policy, not this Orwellian double-speak.

The Federal government has thrown its support behind private Community Housing aka Social Housing at the expense of a robust Public Housing sector.

This covert privatisation, and the duping of the general public, will result in problems to future generations which we could prevent now. 

Friends of Public Housing Victoria

Hands Off Public Housing

Defend and Extend Public Housing.

housing.humanrights@gmail.com

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