How Communities Benefit from Affordable Housing and Built-In Services

The need for affordable housing is more necessary than ever, not only for those who rely on this housing, but for neighborhoods that need the community benefits of affordable housing. With the continued fallout from COVID-19, the social benefits of affordable housing actually help entire communities—which is something that isn’t always readily apparent.

Nationwide, for every 100 households that have income at or below 30 percent of the area’s median income—often called extremely low-income (ELI) renters—only 21 adequate, affordable, and available units exist.

You may have heard of this type of economic theory by another name: trickle-up economy. As opposed to the trickle-down theory which holds that more money in the pockets of the highest earners will cause them to put more money into local goods and services, the trickle-up theory has shown that putting more money in the pockets of the lowest earners bolsters the economy far more.

This article is based on research in the USA. The same or similar community benefits of investing in affordable housing would likely apply in Australia.

At Risk Forum 2021 Older women facing homelessness in Australia: from awareness to action

In 2020, HAAG hosted an event, At Risk: Older women facing homelessness in Australia at which we launched research that identifies an estimated 405,000 women aged 45 and over to be at risk of homelessness in Australia. This year, we are holding a follow-up event, At-Risk 2021, based on participant feedback that it’s time to shift the agenda from awareness to action.

Older women risk being left behind by policies that fail to address the precarity of their housing. What needs to happen to change this?

At-Risk 2021 will be opened by Senator the Hon Jane Hume. A political panel includes Tanya Plibersek MP, Senator Larissa Waters, Zali Steggall MP and Penny Leemhuis, lived experience advocates. Breakout sessions will focus on housing and family and domestic violence, local-scale solutions, and influencing for political change

Don’t miss this forum on Friday the 17th of September 10:30 – 1pm EST.

ABC Brisbane News ‘Sharing with Friends’ story

This ABC Television News Broadcast aired on Saturday 24th July at 7pm and the story is about 17.04 minutes into the program.

Five friends decide they want to live quietly and happily together in retirement in affordable purpose-built homes near to each other, living independent daily lives and also sharing each other’s company – but at times THEY choose.

With the help of the Foundation Workshop series, they develop a set of rules and responsibilities for sharing expenses, having visitors, pets, etc and importantly, how their investment may be recouped if and when they leave the group. They make a formal agreement with each other.

They consult with the Foundation’s architect to choose the design of their homes and gardens (within limited available options).

The Foundation’s financial counsellors assist them to develop budgets and strategies.

The Foundation’s legal team has developed a location and cost appropriate form of title.

This initiative is seeking support in the form of the allocation of land in trust or as a donation.

Closing the Gap plan doesn’t address housing crisis, advocates say

The Federal Government is unveiling its plan for the new Closing the Gap targets in a bid to improve life expectancy, education and health outcomes for Indigenous Australians.

But some advocates are already warning the new agreement lacks any significant commitment on one key issue: remote housing.

Fran’s Guest is John Patterson, CEO of the Aboriginal Medical Services Alliance of the Northern Territory; NT Representative on the Closing the Gap Council

A 10-minute segment of Fran Kelly’s Breakfast Program.

Can national shame lead to political change?

There is no denying the power of patriotic sentiment. The ferocity with which many, particularly in the United States and Australia, are pushing back against a number of thoroughgoing attempts to reckon with the sins of the past – from the furore surrounding the 1619 Project and Critical Race Theory to the dogged resistance to efforts to abolish “Australia Day” and certain proposed changes to Australia’s national history curriculum – seems to suggest that they are convinced that their sense of national pride might not survive such a reckoning. It would be better, they seem to think, not to know.

But to refuse a reckoning with the past cannot be the answer either, for not only is such deliberate forgetting (every such claim of spurious innocence or exculpatory ignorance) itself a form of ongoing complicity in past injustice, but it also represents an egregious expression of contempt towards those members of our political community who continue to live with the wounds of past injustice.

Perhaps the better question is whether being ashamed of one’s nation – which is to say, having the sense of being implicated by, even complicit in, or at least of benefitting from, actions that one finds morally repulsive – can prove to be both as powerful as a sense of national pride, and as conducive to collective change?

This 54-minute ABC Radion National Minefield podcast challenges our thinking about reconciliation at all levels from the personal to the public dimensions of change.

The guest in this episode is Dr Alexis Shotwell Alexis Shotwell is a Professor in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology and the Department of Philosophy at Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada. She is the author of Against Purity: Living Ethically in Compromised Times.

Social housing plea with rent now unaffordable for essential workers across most Australian regions

Santana is a skilled photographer and never imagined she would become one of the 20 per cent of Australians who have experienced homelessness.

Last year, Santana (not her real name) spent three months sleeping and living on the streets on the Gold Coast and now lives in crisis accommodation in Brisbane.

New data from Homelessness Australia shows the federal government cut investment in social housing and homelessness by $1 billion over the past decade, a period when Australian rental prices jumped 30 per cent and house prices rose by 50 per cent.

A suburb of new houses in Sydney Federal Housing Minister Michael Sukkar says the government is investing in social housing.(Flickr/Scott Lewis/CC BY 2.0)

Everybody’s Home is calling on the federal government to invest more in social housing.

“The federal government seems to be asleep at the wheel about housing affordability for renters,” Ms Colvin said.

“What we really want to see is the federal government step up and invest in more social housing, bring the states along with them … but it’s the federal government that has the fiscal firepower to really make a difference.”

Ms Platt said low-income earners had been pleading for help for years but it had fallen on deaf ears.

Understanding Inclusionary zoning Utilising land use planning systems to deliver affordable housing

There are two main approaches to building affordable housing through the planning process.

The first is the mandatory model which requires that a number of affordable homes are included in developments as a condition of planning approval. The number of potential affordable homes developers are obliged to build is determined by either negotiated agreements made between a developer and planning authority during the planning assessment process, or fixed requirements specified as a proportion of housing or development value.

The second approach is the voluntary incentive model, where new affordable housing is encouraged by reducing costs for developers.

Types of incentives include: …

Census 2021: Here’s what you need to know

Census night is on August 10, when Australia’s largest survey will go live on the Australian Bureau of Statistics website.
The census survey is conducted every five years and involves around 10 million households and over 25 million people, according to the ABS.
Census provides the government with a snapshot of the population to help state and federal authorities direct billions of dollars in public funding, including health care, education and infrastructure.

1.1 The Census of Population and Housing (the Census), undertaken by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), is Australia’s largest data collection exercise. The purpose of the Census is to accurately measure the number and key characteristics of all people in Australia, Norfolk Island, and the Territories of Cocos (Keeling) Islands and Christmas Island on Census night every five years.

1.2 Census data includes information on the size of the population, the number of dwellings and other characteristics (Box 1). Data is collected about both individuals and dwellings on a household basis. The 2016 Census counted almost 10 million dwellings and 23.4 million people across Australia. The Census includes people on board vessels in or between Australian ports, or on long-distance trains, buses or aircraft, people entering Australia from overseas before midnight on Census night, and Australian residents in Antarctica.

Time to future proof Australian housing

Only a mandatory approach to accessibility standards will future-proof Australia’s housing for coming generations, and cater to the demands of an ageing population, write Dr Di Winkler and Dr Peter Mulherin outlining the Building Better Homes Campaign.

Given our ageing population, the number of Australians with mobility issues is expected to almost double from 3 million to nearly 6 million within 40 years. In about a month’s time Australia’s building ministers will meet to consider the inclusion of minimum accessibility standards in the National Construction Code (NCC). This will be a critical decision for the millions of Australians with mobility impairments who cannot get access to housing that meets their needs.

Ministers will be choosing between the current voluntary guidelines, or mandatory accessibility standards. The opt-in approach, long favoured by the building industry, has been in place for over a decade and has failed to deliver the promised supply of accessible homes. A recent study by the University of Melbourne found that out of over 1,000 Australians with mobility impairments, 73.6 per cent lived in housing that did not meet, or only partly met their accessibility needs. Only a mandatory approach will future-proof Australia’s housing for coming generations, and cater to the demands of an ageing population.

Sexual assault survivors face a ‘housing maze’, support workers warn

There is a lack of dedicated crisis accommodation and housing support for survivors of sexual assault, according to a Gold Coast Centre Against Sexual Violence.

The Centre Against Sexual Violence says survivors need dedicated support from housing service

The service’s director warns the booming housing market has given survivors fewer options

The state government says housing staff are trained in how to deal with those experiencing trauma

Director Di MacLeod said the scale of the issue was “still a bit hidden”, with some survivors couch-surfing with friends and family, or sleeping in their cars until they could secure stable accommodation.

“The most important thing is to have a roof over your head and know where your next meal is coming from before you can do any other crisis or therapeutic work.”

A spokesperson for the Department of Communities, Housing and Digital Economy said assistance was coordinated through its Housing Services Centres.

“Frontline housing staff have also had training to improve how they assist people who have experienced trauma, including women subject to sexual violence, and can help with housing supports as well as referrals to other supports and services,” the spokesperson said.