Addressing our (affordable) housing shortage

With, at the time of writing, three states in lockdown, community housing organisations (CHOs) as responsible landlords have put into place measures to mitigate the risk to tenants and their staff. They are committed to maintaining tenancy services, safeguarding residents and staff, and minimising the risk of exposure. CHOs as they have in past lockdowns also offer assistance to those in significant financial hardship as a result of this latest outbreak.
At the very beginning of the outbreak, the then UN Special Rapporteur, Leilani Farha, called housing ‘ the front line defence against the coronavirus’. We have seen states and territories step up to assist rough sleepers through both the provision of hotel accommodation and committing funding to provide longer-term housing and support. The NSW Together Home program is just one example.
In Victoria, Tasmania and Queensland there has also been substantial investment by the state governments in new social and affordable housing.

Alongside this welcome news, the pandemic has highlighted just how dysfunctional our current housing system has become. CoreLogic’s rental review for the June 2021 quarter shows national rent rates have grown by 6.6% higher in the last 12 months; the highest rate of growth for over ten years. In regional areas rents have risen by more – an average of 17.7% – impacting lower-income households’ housing security.

Public housing’s failing so how do we fix it?

This week, The World Today has been looking at the issue of public housing.

Until around the 1980s, public housing was considered a mainstream option for low incomes, but now, there’s really only enough places available for the most marginalised, such is the shortfall of public housing dwellings.

It’s widely agreed the system is broken.

There are solutions on the horizon, but they need political will and creative thinking from investors.

Featured:

Heike Ignjatovic, Claymore resident

Jon Eastgate, partner, 99 Consulting

Mick Cassel, chief executive officer, Land and Housing Corporation

Duration: 4min 54sec
Broadcast: Wed 16 Jun 2021, 12:00pm

Women fleeing domestic violence ‘trapped’ in refuges due to lack of housing, advocates say

Women and children fleeing domestic violence in Queensland have spent years “trapped” in refuges and other crisis accommodation due to a chronic shortage of secure long-term housing.

Community organisations that run domestic and family violence refuges say the situation creates a bottleneck in crisis accommodation – leaving vulnerable women with an “impossible choice” of living for extended periods in secondary homelessness or choosing to return to unsafe or violent relationships.

 

Article: Charity sector’s regulatory burden to reduce

The charity sector’s interest in the financial reporting regulatory requirements will have been sparked following a recent announcement proposing some relief from their currently burdensome financial reporting requirements.

In December 2020, Josh Frydenberg, Federal Treasurer, and Senator Zed Seselja, Assistant Minister for Finance, Charities and Electoral Matters, announced they will be providing the relief under an agreement signed by all Federal, State and Territory treasurers.

The announcement is expected to be welcomed by the charity sector who have been pushing for reduced complexity and duplication particularly associated with the compliance of operating across multiple jurisdictions, which ultimately diverts their focus and resources away from their core purpose.

Further detail regarding the potential changes was provided in the Increasing financial reporting thresholds for ACNC – registered charities, consultation paper released by the Australian Government’s Treasury department, in February. Responses to the consultation paper close on 21 March 2021.

Appalling outcomes’: Young people fall into poverty, homelessness after leaving care

Young people who leave state care in Victoria face a grim future, with at least one-third homeless within three years, 70 per cent living below the poverty line and one-quarter having contact with the criminal justice system.

Q Shelter Learning Exchange Report

In response to the outbreak of COVID-19, Q Shelter launched a series of Learning Exchange teleconferences to:

  • Explore and document issues, needs, trends and questions; and
  • Facilitate discussion as the sector rapidly adapted to the emerging situation.

Q Shelter also offered regional COVID-19 Learning Exchange meetings to provide place-focussed opportunities to raise issues and trouble-shoot solutions. Tenants and service users were also invited to raise issues and engage in dialogue about COVID-19 related matters through a separate weekly teleconference.

Q Shelter published a report that highlighted key themes and learnings from this engagement, and provided this update to the Queensland Department of Housing and Public Works (DHPW).

You can click here to download a copy of the full report.

‘Heartbreaking’: 9,100 homeless suffer jobseeker payment suspensions amid recession

Job agencies have suspended welfare payments 74,000 times since mutual obligations returned last month, with 9,100 people experiencing homelessness among those temporarily cut off from income support.

Department of Employment officials on Thursday night revealed plans to give jobseekers a new “48-hour window” before their payments were put on hold, as they conceded the latest figures under the current system were “large”.

With an influx of new jobseekers, including some dealing with the system for the first time, figures provided to Senate estimates showed a total of 74,434 payment suspensions recorded between 28 September and 18 October.

More Australian social housing is the obvious answer to more than one question

Building public housing in the GFC turned out to be good economic and social policy. Amid the Covid recession, what are we waiting for?

The latest building activity data highlights that the construction sector was falling well before the coronavirus hit and that the government is failing to respond as occurred during the GFC, when massive stimulus both sustained employment and also provided much needed social housing.

If we realised how much homelessness was costing us, we’d fix it overnight

Australia’s six-month moratorium on evictions is due to end soon. Some states have extended the moratorium, but when it ends that’s likely to force even more Australians into housing insecurity and outright homelessness. The moral and health arguments for housing people are clear, but many people are unaware of the financial cost we all bear for not fixing homelessness.

Housing Matters, A QCompanion discussion paper on social housing design

The Qld State Government has released a discussion paper and survey on social housing and are seeking feedback on proposed changes to the way social housing is designed and delivered in Queensland.

If you work in the design, planning or development of homes and communities, support social housing delivery, reside in or near social housing, or just have an interest in design and the way we live in Queensland, this is an opportunity to share the key housing issues and needs that are important to you.

Your feedback will inform new social housing design guidance, and ultimately influence all types of housing in Queensland into the future.

The discussion paper and survey can be found here: