So says Keith Jacobs from the University of Tasmania, in an article recently published by The Australian, called New ways of looking at social housing.
He also says "there's no question public housing is stigmatised in the eyes of many people, which is a real shame because 20 or 30 years ago it wasn't seen that way. I think part of the reason is that it's seen as a public policy failure, but I don't agree."
Indeed. But as the article in which he's quoted goes on to show, there's already a policy-shift taking place. Public Housing is on the decline. It's being swallowed up by the more politically attractive (and fiscally flexible) Community Housing - that is, non-government organisations who manage the government's housing assets (and, let's not forget, those consequential tenancies) for them...
Perhaps we're being a little melodramatic when we say "swallowed up". But there's certainly been a strong push in NSW to grow the Community Housing sector over the last three years or so, and this is not about to subside. Almost 3500 properties have been transferred over from HNSW's books to a number of Community Housing Providers (CHPs) since 2009, and the vast majority of properties built under the Federal Government's Nation Building stimulus plan are being handed over to CHPs as well.
...and in more good news for CHPs, a recent report into the social value of Community Housing in Australia has found them to be, well, significant. According to this report, the social benefits of a first year of living in community housing could add up to a substantial amount in monetary terms.
(Extract from "The Social Value of Community Housingin Australia Report" page 3 - click to enlarge)
To break it down:
At the risk of sounding like a bit of a nark, here's a short list:
1. There's not enough of the stuff. Despite its recent growth, Community Housing still only accounts for about 1% of the NSW housing market. For comparison, private rental accounts for about 25%, and Public Housing accounts for 5%.
2. It's pretty tricky to get into. There are two reasons for this - the eligibility criteria is fairly tight, and on top of that there's not enough of the stuff. The successful applicant will be on a low income and experiencing some kind of difficulty obtaining or sustaining a tenancy in the private market... before being placed on a waiting list until a suitable property becomes available.
3. It's complicated. The sector operates within a complex maze of legislation, regulation and contractual obligation - and much of this is new. For many, finding a way through this web of complexity is a very daunting task. But quite aside from that, the very nature of the system results in inconsistencies across the sector, as each CHP is entitled to set its own policies and procedures as long as it complies with a general set of rules. While this is hailed by some as a key strength of the sector, it is felt by others as a new source of frustration.
- The economic benefit for residents due to greater financial flexibility and less ‘housing stress’ was assessed at $2,500 per person or $78.5 million across the sector.
- Improved education opportunities for adults and children were valued at $75 million.
- Health benefits due to improved health and less demand on public health services came in at $23 million.
- The total social value of community housing was calculated at $176 million per year or $665 million over a five-year period.
At the risk of sounding like a bit of a nark, here's a short list:
1. There's not enough of the stuff. Despite its recent growth, Community Housing still only accounts for about 1% of the NSW housing market. For comparison, private rental accounts for about 25%, and Public Housing accounts for 5%.
2. It's pretty tricky to get into. There are two reasons for this - the eligibility criteria is fairly tight, and on top of that there's not enough of the stuff. The successful applicant will be on a low income and experiencing some kind of difficulty obtaining or sustaining a tenancy in the private market... before being placed on a waiting list until a suitable property becomes available.
3. It's complicated. The sector operates within a complex maze of legislation, regulation and contractual obligation - and much of this is new. For many, finding a way through this web of complexity is a very daunting task. But quite aside from that, the very nature of the system results in inconsistencies across the sector, as each CHP is entitled to set its own policies and procedures as long as it complies with a general set of rules. While this is hailed by some as a key strength of the sector, it is felt by others as a new source of frustration.
please i need some advice, i was with public housing and was waiting to be rehoused, finally i got this great house in the lower blue mountains and $93 per week was affordable for me and my daughter. They could of told me what was comming up in a few months time... yes transfer to wentworth housing, i did not want to be with them and they went door knocking on the residence that did not turn up at the meetings, i had them knocking and i did not answer the door until one day i did not see who was at the door, i was harrassed by them and was told false and misleading information, and signed the consent which public housing should have asked me to sign, as i was not a tenant of wentworth housing, being a vunerable person at the time all that was going through my head was I just got out of penrith due to serious domestic issues. They said that if i wanted to stay here i had to sign these forms otherwise public housing were rehousing me to penrith cos they were not going manage the blue mountains anymore..... i never got a copy of the document until 2 days ago, i was always finding it hard to pay the increase in rent and my water changed which " everything was going to remain the same" quoted wentworth housing. now i am going to the CTTT cos they have applied for a notice of termination and rental & water arrears. I have asked for 3 increases to pay my water account and only after chasing again in march 2011 they started putting $2.50 toward the water, my increases to pay more because i was always added $5 towards water, but that went to my rent arrears, and in June i asked for another increase... yeah they increased my centrelink direct payment but never put the extra towards the water. I paid $10 per week for my rental arrears and that came out for nearly 12months, i asked to be transferred back to public housing but that was never processed either, I felt like they harrassed and mislead me to sign this transfer. cos only now am i going over my docs for the CTTT i feel like they had no right to come into my home in the first place as i was not yet a tenant of theirs, they would not like it if another housing department came to me like that.
ReplyDeleteAnon - you need advice from Blue Mountains Tenants Advice and Advocacy Service:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.tenants.org.au/publish/contact-us/blue-Mountains-Tenants-Service.php
Apart from that... thanks for adding another answer to N.C.'s shortlist of 'what's not to like': the so-called 'property transfer' process.