PLEASE READ OUR PRESS RELEASE.
For Immediate Release 26.11.20
Friends of Public Housing Victoria welcomes the government's commitment of over 5 billion dollars to increasing Victoria's housing stock. However we are alarmed that, in spite of this being falsely advertised as a Public Housing build, it continues the disastrous government policy of replacing Public Housing with private 'Community Housing'.
The fact that this is being achieved by keeping public tenants in the dark, as well as the public more broadly, is a national disgrace.
The removal of Councils' input in this process and the speed with which it is being fast-tracked through the stages of Parliament make one suspect that the government is once again attempting to privatise public land and Public Housing without the openness and transparency that ought to be taking place.
Although there have been many behind-the-scenes machinations undertaken to get us to this point, there has never been a public discussion about such a major paradigm change.
We firmly believe that if the public were aware of the reality of the privatisation of Public Housing they would oppose it. The government and media continue to blur the issue by using the term 'Social Housing' to conflate the two housing models.
We urge all politicians to to speak out publicly on this matter and /or lobby energetically within their party.
END
Friends of Public Housing Victoria
housing.humanrights@gmail.com
Further information
Friends of Public Housing Victoria
https://www.facebook.com/FOPHVIC
http://savepublichousing.blogspot.com.au/
Fancy giving away $5B and precious public land to to private corporations and developers. Social/Community/Affordable housing is a clever use of words to make the general public think that this is government run public housing. If the truth were known, there would be an outrage.
ReplyDeletePublic Housing does not have the backing of the governments, both Labor and Liberal, and that makes it all the more easier for a lobby network not dissimilar to "big tobacco" or "big oil" to dominate the airwaves and print media with its messages. This is reinforced by think tanks churning out favourable to the "big-tobacco"-privatised-housing industry. These lobbyists have no shame and ride on the coat tails of helping homelessness. I am disgusted by the webinars that have proliferated recently on the topic of public housing and homelessness, yet the presenters refuse to use the term public housing as that is "off message" for their lobby and persist in talking about the Social Housing solution to the problem.
The only people lobbying for Public Housing (which is the only housing that will take in those at the front of the Housing Waiting List) are part-time volunteers.
It is a disgrace that with the rise of homelessness and the Public Housing waiting list continuing to grow at an alarming rate that the government continues to throw $M at private business (which NFP"s are) that keep making those on welfare homeless and continue to take people off their own private lists (workers who pay higher rent) of which due to privacy act they can and do get away with. Also where is the $M going as there doesn't seem to be a lot of building going on with this $ for low incomers....
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