COMMUNITY ( SOCIAL ) HOUSING WANT TO BE GIVEN THE TITLES OF 12,000 PUBLIC HOUSING PROPERTIES
WHY IS HOMELESSNESS ESCALATING ?? The main reason is that PUBLIC HOUSING is being PRIVATISED by stealth - both major political parties are doing this - and successive state governments are refusing to build more housing to address the urgent need.
Public Housing stands at a ridiculous and tragic 3% of all housing in Victoria- ( Shaw ) and even that is not safe from developer greed and private empire-building ambition!
( Interestingly when the Liberals were in power in Victoria, they were less coy about using the word 'privatisation' whereas the Andrews Labor government wants to avoid the word at all costs! )
As you can see from this Budget Submission, Community Housing ( also known as 'Social Housing' ) want the titles of 12,000 publicly owned properties, as well as public land to be handed over to them. They also want millions of dollars in start-up funds, and continuous access to public money in the form of Commonwealth Rent Assistance. CRA is not needed by public tenants whatsoever- because public housing, being outside market forces, is the only truly affordable housing available for those on low incomes, and on pensions.
Their active role in Labor's "Public Housing Renewal Program" as outlined in this budget submission makes it highly unlikely that public tenants will be returning to PUBLIC HOUSING - owned and managed by the government - as many public tenants have been assured they will be...
The fact is that under the Residential Tenancy Act, Community ( Social ) Housing landlords are identical to private landlords.
The major players, the ones most likely to win lucrative government tenders, are the Housing Associations which are also property developers... ( so don't be fooled by the cosy, folksy term Community and Social Housing )
So many organisations and individuals have been co-opted and this has been cleverly orchestrated for years. It surprises me that many well- meaning people who talk sympathetically about homelessness, think it is somehow ok to continue to obscure the role of Community Housing in the privatisation of Public Housing. Often they have career aspirations in the burgeoning Community Housing sector, and therefore there is a conflict of interest involved.
Friends of Public Housing Victoria will continue to try and get the truth out in the public domain.
The public have a right to know what is going on. There is no excuse for lack of transparency and ongoing secrecy.
After all Public Housing is a public asset. Once its gone, it's gone forever.
Friends of Public Housing Victoria's position is that if we continue to go down this path of privatisation, the tragedy of homelessness will continue to worsen...
There are many wonderful enclaves of public housing in the inner city. These public housing flats in Nth Melbourne are going to be bulldozed, the residents
uprooted and displaced, and the public land sold off to developers. The
peak body for Community Housing says in their submission that many of the inner city walk-up flats
targeted for 'renewal' by the Andrews government, are in need of 'total replacement'. We don't agree. Most of these homes are perfectly
habitable and in good condition. Those that need renovation should be renovated, but they should remain public assets. Noone St Public Housing Estate in Clifton Hill, also slated for demolition, was extensively renovated ten years ago and is in very good condition.
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Thank-you for the growing interest in this blog. Help us to Save Public Housing!
Contact -
Friends of Public Housing Vic https://www.facebook.com/FOPHVIC/
Fair Go For Pensioners ( Hands Off Public Housing ) https://www.facebook.com/Fair-Go-for-Pensioners-FGFP-Coalition-Victoria-Incorporated-240292362816033/
Public Housing Defense Network https://www.facebook.com/publichousingdefencenetwork/
Defend and Extend Public Housing. https://www.facebook.com/DefendAndExtendPublicHousing/
Kate Borland Save Public Housing https://www.facebook.com/groups/kateborlandformelbourne/402339973216198/
and local groups are springing up
https://www.facebook.com/groups/242781149582121/ Protect Abbotsford Street ( Nth Melbourne )
https://www.facebook.com/NorthBrightonResidentsAction/ Nth Brighton Residents Action Grouphttps://www.facebook.com/groups/186430805370707/about/ Darebin Community Friends of Public Housing
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To find out more about this Budget Submission
The proposed transfer of 12,000 public residences to housing federations will be a huge failure as it will do little to help the very people it is supposed to help. This is poor policy and shameful from a so called Labor Government. Existing public tenants & those on the public housing waiting list will face higher rents, loss of security of tenure and a landlord maximising profits. They will have to compete with potential renters not on any public waiting lists that on paper will show they may be more able to pay the rents asked for. In addition what will become with those existing tenants who lose their property in the shift and are unable to secure a property with a modest rental. This situation is not fanciful, it is happening now in estates being renewed.
ReplyDeleteThis news creates a sense of panic in me. Community Housing and all its lobbyists and money is trying to steal publicly owned assets worth billions from under our noses. And all for their own ends.
ReplyDeleteCommunity Housing and its de facto supporters (Labor in Victoria, Developers with vested interests, an Local Councils with vested interests) is taking on an unsuspecting public to steal a conservative $6 BILLION (12,000 properties at $500K each) from Victoria's citizens. HOW DARE THEY! SHAME SHAME SHAME.
Standing against this behemoth grinding its way over our landscape, swallowing up publicly owned properties, are a handful of "public housing defence" groups run my volunteers and with ZERO FUNDING from parties who might benefit from their cause. I am saddened and sickened that this can happen in this day and age when homelessness is escalating as an issue.
Who is looking after the NEW HOMELESS while the properties they need are being given away to private businesses called Community Housing?
ReplyDeleteI am heart-broken when I hear about single women aged 55-70 as being the biggest new class of emerging homeless.
- made redundant or retired and so without their previous income and unable to afford open market rental
- with little savings and no superannuation, and so not desirable or "cherry picked" by Community Housing businesses.
- not poor enough to hit the top of the public housing priority queue
In increasing numbers, these women are resorting to sleeping rough and living in their cars, trying to make ends meet and survive. WOE to a society that can accept this.
I am at a loss to see a plan from the government to address the burgeoning numbers of homeless. The Victorian government is steadily working towards getting out of the public housing market. It is doing this with undue and obscene haste, gifting valuable public land to developers via the so called Public Housing Renewal Program. The further move afoot to transfer thousands of public housing properties to privately run Community Housing businesses is further evidence of the SELL OUT of responsibility in the provision of housing to our most needy.
It was Mahatma Ghandi who said “A nation's greatness is measured by how it treats its weakest members.” Are we to allow us as a society abandon our weakest because it cost money and takes effort to look after them?
Yes, Commonwealth Rent Assistance is NOT needed by public tenants whatsoever- because public housing, being outside market forces, is the ONLY truly affordable housing available for those on low incomes, and on pensions. HEAR! Hear!
ReplyDelete