QUOTE BY THE HOMELESS PERSONS UNION

"The occupation of residential properties in Bendigo St Collingwood, compulsorily acquired from the defunct East-West link, is a direct action undertaken to raise awareness of, and draw attention to the mismanagement, corporatisation and destruction of publicly owned assets during a housing and humanitarian crisis.

The occupation began on the 28th of March 2016, and one of its primary demands has been for Minister Foley to personally meet with those directly impacted by the state government's failure to manage housing resources to avoid the unnecessary suffering of a homeless experience.

In the seven months since the beginning of the Direct Action, the Minister has refused any and all invitations extended by the Homeless Persons Union and allied activists to enter into a dialogue"

OUR GRIEVANCES

The Story So Far.

In March 2014, the Victorian Housing Minister for the Coalition, Wendy Lovell, released a Housing Policy which unveiled a plan to transfer 12,000 public housing properties to Community Housing Organisations. Richard Wynne, ALP opposition Housing Minister at the time, called the move an ‘embarrassing hoax’ and highlighted the fact that no new housing would be made available. It only would result in a change in management / ownership.

http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/poor-left-stranded-in-public-housing-revamp-20140330-35run.html 

We hoped that Labor, when it won government in 2014, would not continue to perpetrate this hoax on the Victorian people, and we looked forward to working with the government to improve the public housing system. In fact public housing is in better shape than you might imagine - there has been a lot of beat-ups and propaganda surrounding public housing by those with a vested interest in seeing its demise.

However- since it was a Federal Rudd Labor government that continued with proposals for Australian States to hand over public housing to housing associations - and since the Victorian ALP had already covertly given away thousands of properties, we were naturally cautious. COAG 2009

So, following the 2014 election, we waited for an announcement by Labor, publicly scrapping the Liberal’s proposal to transfer 12,000 public housing properties - but nothing..

In October 2015 two things happened.

Community Housing Federation Victoria ( peak body for Community/ Affordable Housing ) put forward a Budget Submission calling for the titles of 12,000 public housing properties to be transferred to them.
http://www.chfv.org.au/database-files/view-file/?id=6178

And Labor formally announced its intention to transfer management of Public Housing with the view to title transfer in the future. In this article Martin Foley did not disclose how many properties would be transferred. Our opinion, shared by the Queensland Housing Minister, is that management and title transfer is of course privatisation, regardless of denials to the contrary. 

http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/sweeping-changes-presented-on-public-housing-in-victoria-20151018-gkbxdp.html

As usual, there was no further follow-up investigations by any newspaper, regarding such an important announcement. ( If you blinked, you would have missed it )

OUR ATTEMPTS TO CONTACT THE MINISTER GO UNHEEDED.

In the beginning of January 2015, following the Victorian election, Friends of Public Housing wrote to congratulate Minister Foley and to arrange a meeting to discuss ALP’s position on public housing and the proposed 12,000 stock transfer. We received no response.

Later in January a respected academic ( writer, editor, education consultant and former policy manager ) spoke to a staff member at Martin Foley’s Electorate Office on behalf of Friends of Public Housing urging that a meeting be arranged. No response.

In February we emailed him again. No answer. We followed up with an email attaching a document titled ‘Homes Under Threat’ -our submission to the Senate Inquiry into Affordable Housing and asking for his feedback on it. The document is well researched and presents a strong argument against giving away any more public housing. Once again, no response from Martin Foley’s office - not even an acknowledgment.  

Meanwhile Martina Macey, a tenant with Community Housing, contacted Martin Foley’s office in December 2014 to facilitate a meeting. As a Community Housing tenant, her perspective is that Community Housing ( aka social and affordable housing ) is not the right model for mass transfers of public housing or of vulnerable tenancies. Despite repeatedly contacting his office, Martina believes that it was only by issuing a public challenge on social media, was she finally able to meet, not with Martin Foley, but a representative in October 2016 - almost two years later. She says “It is obvious that when it comes to what is best for the poorest of the poor, both the Labor and the Liberal parties don’t really give a damn.”

The Homeless Person’s Union has received the same treatment. In the seven months since the dispute in Bendigo St, Collingwood commenced, Martin Foley has refused to meet with them to discuss their concerns. The HPU has always been clear in their demand that Labor stop giving away public housing to business interests and the government build more public housing to meet the desperate need. https://hpuvic.org/2015/11/18/hpuv-media-release-markham-avenue-estate/

Instead of meeting with the people directly affected by the crisis, Minister Foley prefers to hold secret meetings with service providers to discuss the future of public housing, and attend executive lunches with business stakeholders.

Maybe by meeting with the service providers he can claim to have ‘consulted’ - but of course he has not.

Says Martina Macey, founder of a tenants’ support group - “Martin Foley is discussing the future of thousands of people who he has not even talked to! He has no idea of the effect that decisions to transfer public housing to Community Housing will have on tenants’ lives. Community Housing Organisations are all separate businesses, with different policies and procedures which can change at any time. What the Community Housing groups say and what they do, can be two different things. Bad practices can be well hidden and the Minister will not learn of these, unless he is prepared to listen to tenants.”

She goes on to say, “Nothing critical about Community Housing ever makes it on the news, just as nothing good about public housing is reported. The newspapers are biased.”

Minister Foley’s refusal to listen to the other side of the argument is unforgivable when so much is at stake. Our position is that Public Housing is an essential and irreplaceable public asset. We need to keep it in public hands. This is a governmental responsibility and a duty of care.

Not having a voice, not being heard or genuinely consulted, is a form of class prejudice - something that public tenants and homeless people have to deal with all the time. We don’t get to have a say in our own future. 

We are not told anything. Knowledge is power, and public tenants are being deliberately and systematically dis-empowered.

In the end ‘the solution’ is to just shunt us off somewhere- like the mass evictions happening in NSW. Out of sight, out of mind. So that the real business of life - which is making money of course- can go on unchecked and uninterrupted.  

 

RALLY TO STOP THE PRIVATISATION OF PUBLIC HOUSING

             RALLY TO SAVE PUBLIC HOUSING

THURSDAY 20 OCTOBER

11.30AM TO 1.30PM 
 State Parliament of Victoria

RALLY-
State Parliament Victoria

Thursday 20 October 2016,

11.30am to 1.30pm  

Save Public Housing, and build more to meet the desperate need.
  
The Victorian State Government intends to privatize much of our Public Housing, by giving it to businesses known as ‘Social/ Community/ Affordable Housing’ run by Corporations/ companies, Churches, Charities and Property Developers. 

Public Housing tenants and the Homeless Persons Union support Public Housing where rents are flexible, set at 25% of  income, and provide security of tenure. Public Housing provides housing for all people on low incomes according to need. This is not the case with the privatised alternative.

We seek to Defend and Extend Public Housing- stop privatisation -build more Public Housing!

This campaign is co-ordinated by Public Interests Before Corporate Interests - PIBCI- with participation by Friends of Public Housing Victoria.

Contact - Dr Joseph Toscano 0439 395 489

Facebook: Defend and Extend Public Housing Australia

or Joseph Toscano, or Howard Marosi

  

       

18,000 PUBLIC HOUSING TRANSFER!!

On Oct 6.2016, in NSW, a monstrous transaction occurred -whereby 18,000 public housing properties were handed over to so called 'not-for-profit' companies. At present it is a long-term lease of management but this often precedes title transfer.

Not so much as a peep of opposition by anyone in the ALP or anyone in The Greens...

Nothing new there folks. They are all going along with it ...

Politics in Australia is in a sorry state when no politician will even issue so much as a word of warning regarding these changes in housing policy - except privately - and what good does that do!?

Unfortunately service providers and organisations working within the housing industry are too beholden to the government for funding to 'risk' speaking out against these paradigm shifts either.

These privatisation policies, being unrolled across other Australian states, are of great benefit to a wealthy elite, attack public tenants, threaten the future of public housing, entrench disadvantage and increase homelessness.

As a probono accountant told Friends of Public Housing Victoria, "there is no doubt in my mind that it is only public housing that will keep people off the streets."

It was disappointing that last year the NSW Tenants Union issued a joint statement along with peak bodies, outlining the severity of the crisis, which we are all aware of, but making no mention at all of of public housing in its document or the need to defend it.

Of course in future it will be the people most in need who will suffer from the politicians' greed and chicanery. Because the privatisation of Public Housing in Australia IS a kind of scam, a confidence trick where the real 'stake-holders' -  the public tenants, homeless people, people in need of housing, and the thinking general public don't find out what is going on until its all done and dusted.

The Sydney newspaper article does not explain that Public Housing tenants require no Commonwealth Rent Assistance ( CRA ) whatsoever because the rents are outside market forces and are genuinely affordable. They go back into the public purse. In future this ongoing stream of tax-payer funded CRA, previously not required, will go directly to the Community Housing Organisations - helping to line the pockets of the future Housing Barons. And boy, do they get fabulously wealthy!

Let's take a look at the UK example, which is appropriate since we are following in their footsteps..

An extract from an article by Ross Clarke in 2015 states that in the UK "40 Housing Association executives are paid more than the Prime Minister for managing a pile of ex-council houses given to them on a plate' ...  And the promise to build new properties for those on low incomes has also failed to materialise. 

In NSW, the massive stream of ongoing Commonwealth Rent Assistance which will be going to Community Housing Organisations, is money that could and should be spent fixing and building more public housing to actually house people in need.

Following the article in the Sydney Morning Herald, there is no online opportunity available for comments. No opportunity for ordinary people like us - the schmucks who collectively own these properties which were built and set aside for those in need, to express our incredulity and outrage.

Sources.
http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/almost-20000-public-housing-units-to-be-transferred-to-notforprofits-20161005-grvn1x.html    (  Clover Moore doesn't look too happy about it ...)

Elite Property Manager EPM
http://eliteagent.com.au/nsw-property-transfer-18000-homes-welcomed-chp-sector/

https://www.tenantsunion.org.au/news-media/media-releases/152-homelessness-joint-statement

http://www.spectator.co.uk/2015/07/housing-associations-have-failed-to-build-houses/ 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/property/news/11038145/Housing-associations-bedazzled-by-lure-of-profits-report.html

https://corporatewatch.org/content/corporate-watch-newsletter-17-registered-social-landlords-new-corporations

SECRETS AND LIES

Posts 

It is very difficult for public tenants to find out what exactly is going on regarding any plans concerning our public housing, because of the veil of secrecy surrounding public housing stock transfers. It is also difficult finding out how Community Housing Organisations operate, as they are separate companies with different policies and procedures.

We know that Community Housing Federation is expecting an announcement later this year.

Here is a link to an important interview.
There is a lot of preamble, so to get to the interview itself, slide the bar across to 25.08

To save, right-click 'save page as'.

http://audio.3cr.org.au/3cr/city-limits/2016/09/21/0900/201609210900_city-limits_64.MP3

We need more open, honest and critical discussions like this one, and we need them NOW -
not afterwards when it's too late ...

THE PRIVATISATION OF PUBLIC HOUSING IS A HISTORIC  ISSUE -
ONCE THE TITLES ARE HANDED OVER, THESE PROPERTIES ARE GONE FOREVER..

*******

LEADING UP TO THE COUNCIL ELECTIONS,WE INVITE LOCAL POLITICIANS TO CONTACT US VIA OUR CAMPAIGN EMAIL ADDRESS. housing.humanrights@gmail.com

WANT TO JOIN US OR CAN HELP OUT IN ANY WAY? - PLEASE WRITE TO THE ABOVE ADDRESS.