Thousands of homeless people have been removed from Paris and the surrounding area as part of a “clean-up” operation ahead of the Olympic Games, campaigners say.
Those moved on include asylum seekers, as well as families and children already in a precarious and vulnerable situation, the collective Le Revers de la Médaille, which represents 90 associations, said in a report released on Monday.
Cutting permanent migration and capping student numbers won’t help much – but experts say it could hurt a whole lot.
The government and the opposition have both promised cuts to migration in response, at least partially, to Australia’s housing crisis. But how much does immigration actually contribute to the cost of housing and rent?
Read the full article on The Guardian website.
Q Shelter and its members did everything possible to propose and enable the activation of the Pinkenba Quarantine Facility to alleviate housing market pressures.
“It is disappointing that 18 months have passed with no resolution to how the site could play its part to help people,” says Q Shelter Executive Director Fiona Caniglia.
“Even though the site has other strategic purposes we consider it shameful that so much time went by without any way to effectively engage three levels of Government and the community services sector in how the site could play a role, even if temporarily”.
“Time and money has been spent trying to evaluate how Pinkenba could be used and it has taken 18 months to find out that the Federal Government has the site earmarked for another purpose”.
“The work the State Government has led in recent months on possible temporary accommodation uses at Pinkenba has been welcomed. Brisbane City Council has also contributed to how the site could be used. Both tiers of Government had made funding commitments to support how the site could play its part as a temporary facility.”
“In the middle of a crisis, we can’t afford a decision on a site like this to take 18 months. We call on the Federal Government to find ways to more effectively assist, especially when the State and Local Government have offered funding to help activate the site as a temporary housing option”.
“The answers to homelessness require seamless integration between all levels of Government and the community services sector. Community services, peak bodies, and two tiers of Government have spent valuable time and money working out how the site could be used. We can’t afford this level of inefficiency and waste when every dollar needs to count.”
“Despite a concerted effort to explore the site’s potential uses to alleviate current homelessness, the site is owned by the Federal Government and required their approval for this purpose. Even though its use as a strategic training facility for the AFP was in the pipeline, 18 months have passed when perhaps the site could have played its part.”
“We are in a crisis. This requires urgency and effective decision-making. It also requires a more effective relationship between the levels of government to reach milestones earlier. If the site was earmarked for other uses, then communicate that early and let us move on to other solutions.”
ENDS
Media comment
Executive Director, Q Shelter, Fiona Caniglia: 0400 196 492
Manager of Policy and Strategic Engagement, Jackson Hills: 0411 395 842
Q Shelter Communications Team: 07 3831 5900 comms@qshelter.asn.au
A new report by Anglicare Australia shows rental affordability for people on low incomes is the worst it’s ever been, despite increased government spending on housing. Advocates across the housing sector say governments need to take a hands-on approach and start funding long-term solutions – as well as looking for the “quick wins”.
Watch the video or read the transcript on the SBS site.
The Australian dream of owning your own home is being “crushed” by rising rents and over-inflated house prices, a new report finds. After reviewing more than 45,000 rental listings, Anglicare Australia’s rental affordability report has declared the market the worst it has ever been.
“This is not hyperbole,” the report released on Tuesday said. “This is Australia’s new normal.”
The annual report uses thousands of rental property listings on realestate.com.au on a weekend in March or April to compile a snapshot of the rental market across the country.
The report says the national vacancy rate has hit an all-time low of 0.7 per cent while average rents are $200 per week more than pre-COVID-19 pandemic levels.
Infill development is an increasingly hot topic in Australian cities. It involves building on unused or underutilised land within existing urban areas.
City planners see infill development as essential. It’s a way to end urban sprawl and improve service delivery to a growing population at lower cost. Infill development has increased in popularity over several decades because it uses existing physical and social infrastructure, is close to amenities and enhances local economies.
Governments and planners have set infill development targets. However, these targets are not being met. Greenfield projects on undeveloped land continue to outpace infill development.
Governments at all levels are looking for ways to make more housing available and affordable. Infill development is a viable option, but it can be improved by making more use of mechanisms like land development authorities. They can provide co-ordinated planning and development at a scale that will improve our cities.
A look at the figures shows just how dire the situation on the German housing market really is: There is a shortage of over 800,000 apartments in Germany, a figure that is growing. More than 9.5 million people, mostly single parents and their children, live in cramped conditions, according to the Federal Statistical Office.
“The strategy of just build, build, build won’t work. The most important thing is that construction is inexpensive and remains affordable in the long term. If you look to Austria or Switzerland, which also have a large rental market, there are certainly models that could be used to create housing for the long term. Vienna is a shining example, where almost half of all apartments are owned by the city. This ensures that housing in Vienna is affordable.”
Maxine Ho, AIRP Vancouver Undergraduate Research Assistant, talks about her experiences interviewing older adults experiencing housing precarity and living in affordable independent rental housing for the ‘Aging in the Right Place’ research project.
The idea of healthy aging has long been examined using biomedical approaches to look at the process of aging in the physical body (Bacsu et al., 2014). While these approaches are informative and help us understand the experience of aging physically, listening to the lived experiences of what it means to age in the right place highlights the importance of cultural and social experiences in aging.
Through our conversation with [a participant], we understand that the experience of older adults in affordable housing is complex, and it involves multiple aspects that contribute to her feeling of aging in the right place. Being able to give back to society, maintaining a positive mindset, and connecting with those around her all contribute to her sense of aging in the right place. This is why she feels that no matter where she goes, she is aging in the right place.
A rental advocate gathering information about empty homes for squatters has defended his controversial plan to help Aussies “camp out” in an abandoned property. Jordan van den Berg has copped criticism after setting up a register for Australians to dob in addresses left to rot.
The non-practising lawyer told Yahoo Finance yesterday that leaking details of empty houses to give shelter to those struggling in the housing crisis was a short-term solution while politicians nutted out a better path.
You can read the rest of the story on Yahoo Finance.
Many property investors in [Melbourne] are asking questions about converting their existing properties to rooming houses. An explosion of interest in rooming houses from investors based on their higher rental yields has prompted concern from advocates about unregistered dwellings and vulnerable residents in this “housing of last resort”.
But with rooming houses a “housing of last resort” for renters, many of whom are living with entrenched vulnerability, the trend has advocates worried.
“We have seen first-hand that more people who are older and more vulnerable are moving into rooming houses,” said Amy Frew, director of client services at Tenants Victoria. “Due to the housing crisis there has been a lot more scope for exploitation.”