Accessible housing: disabled people left behind by ‘shameful’ building code stance in NSW, WA and SA

Disabled Australians are being left behind in three major states after governments failed to make minimum accessibility standards mandatory for new houses, disability advocates say.

New South Wales, Western Australia and South Australia say they will opt out of clauses in the forthcoming revised National Construction Code (NCC) that would require all new buildings to have basic accessibility features such as at least one step-free entrance, a toilet on the entry-level, and reinforced walls in the bathroom.

The NCC sets safety, accessibility and sustainability standards for buildings in Australia, but each state and territory government can vary, override, delete or add to the code within its own legislation.

The other states and territories around Australia have agreed to implement these new standards as part of their building legislation, but NSW, WA and SA have elected to opt out.

The Australian Building Codes Board has given states and territory governments until 17 December to confirm whether they are opting out of this part of the code before it comes into force next year.

Social housing for women over 55 takes off

Older people are the fastest growing subpopulation of people experiencing homelessness and of people using homelessness services in the nation, according to the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW).

Women are most at risk with the number of older homeless women increasing by over 30% between 2011 and 2016 to nearly 7,000.

But finally social housing for women aged over 55 is gathering pace.

Earlier this week, a new venture, Local, announced it had in excess of $500 million from Macquarie Bank’s Macquarie

Now building a house a day: Housing Dashboard update highlights record of delivery

The Tasmanian Liberal Government is providing an unprecedented and massive investment into public housing and home affordability.

The latest monthly dashboard update shows that we have now built 1,177 long term homes since the commencement of our Affordable Housing Strategy.

This includes 34 social housing dwellings built in the month of October, meaning that by working with the community housing partners and the building industry, we have built more than one house per day.

The Goverment has a comprehensive plan to increase housing supply is the only way to make housing as affordable as possible.

Its record investment of $615 million into public and affordable housing, and homelessness initiatives, including our record election commitment of $280 million to extend our building program of new social housing for Tasmanians in need is the biggest in this State for decades. That money is achieving more houses right now.

They have 1,228 dwellings in the pipeline, including 947 new social housing dwellings, 178 supported accommodation units and 103 homeless accommodation units.

The results show that as of October 2021, the Affordable Housing Strategy has delivered a total of 1,876 new homes, land lots and new places in supported accommodation and homeless services, including 892 since July 2019.

In addition to the almost 14,000 households already in social housing, there were 2,727 households assisted in the past year through the variety of programs available to support our State’s most vulnerable.

Tenant advocate: Can’t solve a housing crisis by creating more homelessness

Low-income tenants in council housing worry they will become homeless without access to a rental subsidy, and say the cost of emergency housing could be 11 times more expensive.

The income-related rental subsidy (IRRS) ensures tenants in social housing pay affordable rents by setting them at 25 per cent of income, with the Government topping up the rest.

The subsidy is available to tenants with Kāinga Ora, and new social housing tenants with community housing providers (CHPs).

It is not, however, available to tenants in council housing.

Why building more homes won’t solve the affordable housing problem

The problem isn’t the supply of housing; it’s that millions of people lack the income to afford what’s on the market.

Even before 2020, the United States faced an acute housing affordability crisis.

The COVID-19 pandemic made it a whole lot worse after millions of people who lost their jobs fell behind on rent.

While eviction bans forestalled mass homelessness — and emergency rental assistance has helped some — most moratoriums have now been lifted, putting a lot of people at risk of losing their homes.

One solution pushed by the White House, state and local lawmakers, and many others is to increase the supply of affordable housing, such as by reforming zoning and other land-use regulations.

Covering the difference between what these renters can afford and the actual cost of the housing, then, is the only solution for the nearly 9 million low-income households that spend at least half their income on rent.

Contracting with the Community

Local government agencies often say they find it difficult to identify and reach marginalized populations and gain their trust or time to contribute to a planning process.

During a typical municipal planning process, those agencies often hire an outside consultant to conduct community outreach and incorporate that feedback in a final report.

However, consultants from outside of the community tend to lack the historical context of the area as well as the kinds of relationships that are only built with trust.

As a result, relying on them risks eliminating the perspective of a broad subset of community members, often people of color.

Without the expertise and true lived experience of all residents informing the outcomes, plans are often based on skewed narratives that in turn accelerate inequitable housing practices.

National Anti-Racism Framework

The Concept Paper outlines the reasons why a national framework is needed.

The Commissioner states:

“A framework would outline a coordinated, shared vision to tackle racism and promote racial equality in Australia. It would be a statement of our commitment to tackling racism and our intention to protect and promote racial equality. The Framework would seek to not only guide work to address racism but also reflect our commitment to inclusion, equality and social cohesion. It would be an important step in building a common vision of the society we want to build.
It is time that we looked at the scourge of racism in the same way that we look at the scourge of domestic violence or child abuse. On those issues, we have in place longstanding national frameworks, signed onto by all governments in Australia with multi-year plans with priorities, backed up by measurement and evaluation.
Let me be clear: racism is a significant economic, social and national security threat to Australia. It is time we treated it as such.
We need a new approach to combatting racism – one that is more cohesive across government, that builds community partnerships to prevent racism from flourishing, and one that is smarter and more effective.
This paper sets out my initial thinking as Race Discrimination Commissioner of the key elements of a new approach to anti-racism for Australia.”

The end to the National Affordability Rental Scheme could leave thousands at the whim of the private market

“If you don’t see a house as your own, you’re not going to be happy there,” says Marion Trench.

The 59-year-old has been renting her townhouse in Bethania, halfway between Brisbane and the Gold Coast, for just under two years, and she loves it. It’s big enough that she can have her grandchildren over to visit. She has furnished it to her particular taste with special secondhand pieces bought at prices she can afford on Facebook Marketplace. She has even planted and grown her own garden.

Trench hoped this would be her “forever home”. But now she’s afraid she’s about to be priced out.

Trench is one of 32,000 renters benefiting from the National Affordability Rental Scheme (NRAS), a program developed and implemented by the federal Labor government under former prime minister Kevin Rudd in 2008. NRAS was designed to draw in the private sector to the provision of cheaper housing, by paying property owners a subsidy in exchange for them making new homes available at below-market rents for a decade.

But the program was controversial, with critics saying it was too expensive – costing approximately $3.1bn over its lifetime – for the relatively small amount of affordable housing it made available. The Abbott government scrapped the scheme in 2014, grandfathering the homes already on it but not allowing new ones to join. That means that over the next three years, the vast majority of NRAS properties are going to lose their subsidy – and those renters benefiting from it are starting to feel stressed.

Melbourne housing affordability plummets, women hit hardest

The price of a typical house in Melbourne has multiplied by 22 in the past 40 years, almost four times faster than wages, with advocates warning that women were bearing the brunt of the affordability crisis.

People over 55, especially women, were one of the fastest-growing groups of homeless people in the 2016 census, and people aged 55 to 64 are one of the biggest cohorts on unemployment benefits.

Jeanette Large, chief executive of Women’s Property Initiatives, a Victorian not-for-profit that helps house homeless and at-risk women, said many older women had some assets, making them ineligible for social or public housing but unable to get a mortgage because of their age.

Ms Large said more and more women would find themselves in a housing crisis as more members of the baby boom generation hitting retirement age.

Historic agreement to increase social housing in Newcastle and boost jobs

A memorandum of understanding (MoU) between the NSW Government and the City of Newcastle is set to increase social housing in the Newcastle Local Government Area as well as support more than 100 local jobs.

This week the MoU was formally endorsed by the Minister for Water, Property and Housing, Melinda Pavey, and Newcastle Lord Mayor Nuatali Nelmes, following Council’s unanimous endorsement of the MoU at the October Ordinary Council meeting.

The objective of the MoU is to deliver improved outcomes in social and affordable housing for the people of Newcastle. To help achieve this the City of Newcastle will work closely with the NSW Land and Housing Corporation (LAHC) to identify priority areas in need of social housing and fast track projects.

An important feature of the MOU will see the City of Newcastle supporting LAHC’s redevelopment program through the provision of an annual payment equivalent to the rates paid by LAHC in the Newcastle LGA for the next three years.

The payment, which will be matched by LAHC, will be reinvested into funding new social housing in the region during the same period.