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.
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.
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.
·
Jeremy and Fiona are stating the bleeding obvious. There is a chronic shortage in Australia of public housing units, particularly here in Victoria, with about 80,000 persons waiting, yet no part of the Covid stimulus package targets this shortfall. Instead job creation is being steered to assisting well heeled home owners with their renovations and private ownership. The stimulus package is off the rails!
ReplyDeleteMany thanks for this comment. Although the Post was introduced by Jeremy and I, this press release was in fact a concentrated collaborative effort from three groups of allies, FOPHV,Defend and Extend Public Housing and Hands Off Public Housing.I agree with your pithy comment that the stimulus package is 'off the rails'. Those most in housing need,continue to be left out in the cold. Business as Usual.. FR
ReplyDelete