Vale Ross Smith

It is with great sadness that we note the passing of Ross Smith - a tireless advocate for fairness in the housing system, and member of the Tenants' Union of NSW.

Ross Smith, Waterloo.

Ross was actively involved with the Waterloo Neighbourhood Advisory Board as the Peoples Precinct representative. He was a member of Counterpoint Community Services, King Cross Community Centre and South Sydney Community Aid, Treasurer and long-standing member of REDWatch, and volunteered with the South Sydney Herald. He was also an active member of the Australian Labor Party.

Ross was always willing to say what many others would not regarding social housing policy - or as he would say 'public and community housing' policy. He strongly disliked the term social housing.

He was a strong advocate. He was always a touchstone for those who might stray too far from hearing tenants' voices. He was also keen to stay in touch with tenants from across the state and would travel across Sydney to be at tenants' events. He had a passionate commitment to tenant participation.

Ross was well known in Waterloo and the wider public and community housing community for his tireless advocacy work. He will be sadly missed.

Our thoughts are with his family and friends. Vale.

The Housing Department with no housing?

Robert Mowbray, the Older Tenants Project Officer at the Tenants Union, remembers a community work text from his social work studies in the early 1970s. It had the quirky title The Householder's Guide to Community Defence Against Bureaucratic Aggression. The author was Antony Jay, who went on to fame with his Yes, Minister series. With great sadness, the Institute of Tenancy Culture Studies notes his passing - his obituary in the SMH is worth a read.

Remember the episode called 'The Compassionate Society'? It was about a most efficient hospital. It was the one with no patients! Well, Antony Jay would not be surprised that in New South Wales we will soon have the most efficient Housing Department ... the one with no housing stock, as Housing NSW proceeds to divest itself of its stock. Stranger, indeed, than fiction.

This is one of the objectives of the Communities Plus initiative. A third of NSW public housing will be transferred to non-government organisations over four years, in tranches of about 1000 homes. This was reported here.

Antony Jay was responsible for such gems as 'A basic rule of government, minister, is never set up an inquiry unless you know in advance what its findings will be ...'.

He also developed an interest in public choice theory: 'In economics public choice theory assumes that all economic actors – businessmen, consumers, politicians and bureaucrats – are motivated primarily by individual gain. Thus, politicians pursue re-election and bureaucrats pursue budget-maximisation, while voters and interest groups chase free lunches. The trick is to know your enemy and exploit his self-interest to your own advantage'. Read more here.

Vale Dr John Kaye, MLC

Today we remember and pay our respects to Dr John Kaye, Member of the NSW Legislative Council and senior member of the NSW Greens in Parliament.

Dr John Kaye was elected to the Legislative Council in 2007, becoming just the fourth member of the Greens to win a seat in the NSW upper house. As the longest serving current NSW Greens MLC, Dr Kaye has a long list of achievements as a Parliamentarian. After a short battle with an aggressive cancer, Dr Kaye has passed away.

We recall in particular his role in the 2010 Standing Committee on Social Issues Inquiry into Homelessness and Low-Cost Rental Accommodation, where he drew a very clear link between private rental market failings and the ongoing lack of enthusiasm for "public sector solutions to housing".

As their senior Parliamentarian, Dr Kaye took the lead in promoting many of the NSW Greens 2015 election policies. This included an economic platform that would see key infrastructure, including new social and affordable housing, built and paid for by borrowing funds and raising additional tax revenue. The reintroduction of a Vendor Duty - payable on all land other than owner-occupied homes and family farms, where the value since purchase had increased by 12% - was among the new revenue measures put forward. Such a tax would address a fundamental issue with Stamp Duties, in that they effectively fine owner-occupiers for moving house, but it would also act as a kind disincentive against speculative investment in property. At the very least it would ensure some of the speculative gains being realised in residential housing could be recovered by the whole of New South Wales through the tax system, rather than simply landing in the pockets of landlords and their financiers.

And, importantly, Kaye and the NSW Greens adopted much of the federal wing of the party's Better Deal for Renters platform, at a time when no other established party wanted to talk about housing affordability. The Greens campaigned heavily on the issue of Renters Rights in their bid to win the newly established seat of Newtown, with their candidate Jenny Leong ultimately claiming victory.

A great deal of work still lies ahead in promoting policies that acknowledge the basic needs of tenants, particularly those on low incomes, do need to be taken seriously. Part of that involves convincing our Parliamentarians and political hopefuls that ignoring tenants rights, and maintaining an unaffordable private rental market, should no longer be considered acceptable. Dr John Kaye is one such politician who seems to have already understood this, and the tenants of NSW are a half-step closer to this political achievement for his tenure in the NSW Parliament.

Vale.

Vale Adele Horin

We're saddened today to read of the passing of Adele Horin, former Sydney Morning Herald columnist and blogger, as tributes flow from colleagues and readers alike.

Horin will be remembered for the things she chose to write about as much as the way she wrote. She gave a voice to issues that might have otherwise gone unspoken in the mainstream media, and her writing was always powerful.

We remember Horin in particular for her contribution to boarding house reform in New South Wales. The political motivation that finally resulted in the Boarding Houses Act 2012 is owed, in some part, to a report published in the Sydney Morning Herald in mid 2011 - Horin's Disturbing tales from behind closed doors.

There remains a great deal of work to do, to ensure the rights of boarding house occupants are protected and enforced in New South Wales. But today we take a moment to reflect on how far we have come, and acknowledge those who have made a difference along the way.

We paid tribute to Horin when she penned her last column for the Herald - a piece called For richer and for poorer, the battle goes on. In looking back over it today, we are again struck by Horin's insight, humility, and her frank ability to express what she saw. She made a few strong points that day. Many of them still resonate.

But that was not her last written word. Horin's last piece of public writing appears on her blog.

... right now dear readers, I’m too sick to continue to write the blog. Maybe I will be able to re-start it again. But if not, I want you to know what a privilege it has been to be part of such a thoughtful community.

Our thanks go to you, Adele Horin, for the part that you've played in giving a voice to that community. Vale.

Vale Tom Uren

We pay our respects on the passing of Tom Uren.

 
Tom Uren was Minister for Urban and Regional Development in the Whitlam Government. We've written about the achievements of the Whitlam Government in housing and urban policy; these were Tom Uren's achievements too.

We've heard housing worker and activist Karine Shellshear describe Tom Uren as one of our 'housing elders'. He was that, and also, over his long life, a sportsman, soldier, prisoner of war, peace activist, environmentalist and lovely human being.

Vale Tom Uren.

Vale Gough Whitlam

Gough Whitlam has died. Whitlam was Prime Minister for two abbreviated terms of government (1972-74 and 1974-75) and the greatest egalitarian reformer to hold that office.

We reviewed the Whitlam Government's achievements in housing and urban policy in our series on the centenary of public housing in New South Wales. It's extracted below.

Whitlam's most ambitious initiative was the creation of a new Department of Urban and Regional Development (DURD), conceived of as 'virtually co-equal with the Treasury', to coordinate the  allocation of urban resources by all levels of government. Under Minister Tom Uren, DURD programs included the establishment of the State land banks (Landcom in New South Wales) to better manage suburban development; funding for suburban sewerage; and the development of Area Improvement Plans that brought together and directly funded local governments to plan and work on local and regional infrastructure.

Early in its first term, the Whitlam Government also negotiated a new Commonwealth-State Housing Agreement (CSHA), which made a few notable changes to public housing policy. Whitlam had gone to the election critical of the recent decline in building activity by State public housing authorities, and promising instead to 'request each State authority to estimate the funds it will require to reduce the waiting period for houses to twelve months.' The 1973 CSHA didn't quite do that (fastforward to the present and see how far waiting lists have run out here), but it increased funding, reined in sales of public housing dwellings, and stabilised the level of construction for a time.

The new CSHA also slightly shifted the target of public housing policy. Traditionally directed at working class households, and exclusive of very poor and vulnerable persons (you could be knocked back by the Housing Commission's allocations committees if you didn't keep your current house well, or had too many children), State housing authorities were henceforth required to make not less than 80 per cent of public housing allocations to households whose incomes were not more than 80 per cent of the average. This attempted to balance responsiveness to households in need with the system's need for higher income households.

Apart from the CSHA, DURD purchased and rehabilitated old dwellings at Glebe and Woolloomooloo for public housing, and demonstrated an alternative approach to redevelopment at a time when the NSW Housing Commission was at the height of its enthusiasm for 'slum clearance' and high-rise construction. The first programs for Aboriginal housing on principles of self-determination were also commenced. And under its Australian Assistance Plan, the Whitlam Government established Regional Councils for Social Development and funded other local, non-profit organisations to employ community development workers and improve the social fabric of public housing estates and other disadvantaged areas.

Finally, the Whitlam Government initiated the first steps towards tenancy law reform, by expanding the scope of the Inquiry into Poverty (originally commissioned by the McMahon Government) to include a report, by Adrian Bradbrook, into the landlord-tenant relationship, which set out the basic model of residential tenancies legislation subsequently enacted by (with considerable differences in the details, and delays in the commencement) by the State and Territory Governments.

No subsequent Federal Government has been so active in housing and urban policy. If you live in or visit a place like Claymore (which we visited recently with IUT Secretary -General Magnus Hammar), where residents and community workers meet around a table in a community laundry to connive at ways of getting and keeping basic facilities and resources like decent houses, footpaths, parks and playgrounds, and the occasional bus-run to shops that don't rip you off, you'll see the continuing relevance of Whitlam's agenda. Both sides of politics should see that it's time for a strong and just housing and urban policy again.

We hope the remembrance of Whitlam today revitalises egalitarian principles in Australian politics and policy.

Vale Gough Whitlam.

Farewell, Animal

A public housing tenant died recently. When his friends went to sort through his flat, they found boxes and boxes of gifts. Christmas gifts, for children, hospital patients and others in the local area. This wasn't surprising, as this tenant was well known for giving gifts. He'd been doing it every year for decades.

Animal OAM, also known as Randall Nelson, or the Kings Cross Santa, thoroughly deserves all the praise that will be heaped upon him at his funeral tomorrow in Kings Cross. He made an enormous impact on the lives of people around him.
To us, he represents the big heart, the resilience and the generosity of thousands of public housing tenants in the state who give back to their communities.
The unkempt hair, browning teeth and deafening motorcycle roar were part of Animal's package, but to dismiss a person merely on how they present themselves, or where they live, is foolish in the extreme. In his case, you would have missed out on humour, spirit and an unrelenting dedication to his cause.
In the case of other public housing tenants around the state you would be dismissing mums, brothers, lunch ladies, cleaners, community workers, politicians, entertainers, and sportspeople. Their contributions aren't always as visible as Animal's have been, but they do make a difference in the lives of people around them.

Vale Nelson Mandela

We pay our respects on the passing of Nelson Mandela.

Amongst the huge achievements that Mandela made, and made possible, in the realisation of human rights, we'll highlight just one: the right to housing in the South African Constitution.
  
26. Housing

1. Everyone has the right to have access to adequate housing.

2. The state must take reasonable legislative and other measures, within its available resources, to achieve the progressive realisation of this right.

3. No one may be evicted from their home, or have their home demolished, without an order of court made after considering all the relevant circumstances. No legislation may permit arbitrary evictions.

Vale Nelson Mandela.

Tenancy culture studies: Bread

The Institute of Tenancy Culture Studies could not let this week go by without at least a passing reference to Margaret Thatcher.

Thatcher, 1925 - 2013

Thatcher brought the 1980s "Right to Buy"scheme in the United Kingdom to life, offering substantial discounts for tenants to buy their council or housing association homes. The scheme proved highly popular - and, for some, profitable. But, by preventing councils and housing associations from spending the proceeds on new construction, it all but ended their ability to meet continued demand for low-cost housing. It did nothing to ensure the long-term affordability of housing in the United Kingdom.

But that's not what we'd like to talk about right now. The Institute for Tenancy Culture Studies would like to focus its 'post-Thatcher' attention on the clever BBC series 'Bread'.



Bread features the Boswell family - a plucky mother and her five adult children, a wayward father who drops 'round any time his new girlfriend isn't looking, and Grandad, who lives in the terrace next door. The Boswells manage a relatively comfortable existence during Thatcher's Britain through sheer hard work and determination. In the depressed 1980s economy of Liverpool it's fundamentally about survival. As the matriarch, Nellie Boswell, once put it:

'We're a team. A business. We survive because we're a family and we have a plan. You work yourself to death, I cook myself to death, and the reward is money in that pot.'

Thatcher would have loved it, except for one small thing: nobody seems to have a real job. The Boswells make their money by ripping off the DHSS and engaging in the ultimate free enterprise of shady cash-only deals. At the end of each day they gather around the dinner table and make their contributions to the 'pot' - noting one another's efforts with a sense of solidarity that would not be out of place on a picket line. They pull together, for the good of the family, and they know how to make a quid.

... and they're tenants. Well, at least that's what they told the DHSS. They swapped houses with Grandad so that they could charge each other rent, and claim it back through the welfare system. Pure genius!

Bread pioneered the combination of comedic story-telling with soap-opera style drama. It was quite often fanciful, but hardly far-fetched. Its characters were an interesting hybrid of plausible realism and theatric caricature, and in a way they still resonate on account of this. They are all inherently likeable - their constant affirmation that things are on the up is impossible to disagree with. You just want them to keep on getting away with it... well, at least for the first couple of seasons.

But Bread was very much a product of its time. It is difficult to imagine a similarly themed television show breaking onto our airwaves with such charm and sophistication today, without being shouted down as an affront to the post-Thatcher world.

We can look back on it and laugh. But remember kids, there's no future in ripping off the system...

Vale Col James

We're very sad to hear that the legendary housing activist and architect Col James has died.

When matters of housing justice and injustice broke onto the public agenda in the 1970s, Col was in the thick of it, as an early member of the Tenants' Union of NSW and Shelter NSW, an adviser to the Builders Labourers' Federation on its green bans, a founder of housing co-operatives and a friend to squatters. He was closely associated with the Block and the Aboriginal Housing Company for all of that organisation's life.

Col was a great teacher, both at the Faculty of Architecture at Sydney University and out in the community organisations with which he worked. A happy fighter, Col's motto was 'make housing a verb.'

Vale Col James.

Vale Frank Walker

We're sad to hear that Frank Walker, the former State and Federal Parliamentarian, has died.

Walker held numerous ministerial portfolios, including Housing in the Wran Labor Government. As Housing Minister, Walker was responsible for the replacement of the NSW Housing Commission by the NSW Department of Housing on 1 January 1986.

The intention of the change was to move away from the 'public works' organisation of the old Commission, with its preoccupation with building public housing – even though this meant, by the 1980s, building houses of dubious durability in large estates that concentrated poverty and other social problems – and its high-handed style of tenancy management – obsessed about property management, with a strong minor theme in scrutinising tenants' household arrangements on Octavia Hill lines.

By contrast, the new Department of Housing was envisaged as a cross-tenural housing services agency, with a new focus on 'client service'.

It is fair to say that, more than 25 years later, that reform agenda is still a work-in-progress – but Walker got started on it.

As Housing Minister, Walker also gave the State-wide network of Tenants Advice and Advocacy Services its start. In 1986, the Housing Information and Tenancy Services Program got underway, providing funding to 21 local advice services, as well as to the Tenants' Union (to resource the local services) and to Shelter NSW too.

Walker was also an advocate for people with mental illness, having lost two sons to schizophrenia.

Vale Frank Walker.

Vale Agnes Borsody

We were sad to hear this week that Agnes Borsody, a long-time Member of the Consumer, Trader and Tenancy Tribunal, has died. The sadness is shared by all at the Tenants' Union, and throughout the network of Tenants Advice and Advocacy Services.

Member Borsody was not particularly 'pro-tenant'; better than that, she was fair. Tenants advocates appearing before her couldn't always be sure of getting the orders their clients wanted, but they could be sure of getting a well-reasoned result.

*

We often hear the complaint – usually by persons who have not set foot in the Tribunal, or by landlords who have failed to get what they wanted – that the Tribunal is 'pro-tenant'. Hardly. It's true that the Tribunal is better for tenants than the previous alternative – the NSW Local Court – in that tenants never asserted their legal rights in the Local Court, but they do sometimes go to the relatively accessible and inexpensive Tribunal. But landlords enjoy the Tribunal's benefits even more: their applications outnumber those by tenants by a factor of six.

The Tribunal is not 'pro-tenant': if anything, it is pro-expedition. It likes to wrap things up. In our judicial system, no court or tribunal except the NSW Local Court receives more applications, and the Tribunal gets the majority of applications listed for hearing within three weeks of lodgement, and finalises most applications at or before the first hearing. We sometimes hear of Members and conciliators who advocates say have applied undue pressure to parties – particularly tenants – to settle proceedings on terms that aren't really appropriate. We also sometimes hear of worse behaviour: Members who, faced with a seemingly uncontrollable torrent of applications, try to regain a sense of control and power by bullying the weakest persons who appear before them – again, the tenants.

Member Borsody was a terror to those who wasted the Tribunal's time with misconceived applications or foolish formality – but she directed her blasts particularly at the repeat players in the Tribunal, especially the real estate agents, the housing officers, and the tenants advocates. But even those who suffered a blast knew that she had a sense of humour. She'll be missed.

Sandy Duncanson Social Justice Fund

In June this year, tenants, advocates and activists lost a fine friend when Sandy Duncanson, the principal solicitor of the Tenants' Union of Tasmania, died. He was 37, and had survived cancer for 16 years.

(Sandy Duncanson)

Happily, the memory of this brilliant fellow continues to do good work through the Sandy Duncanson Social Justice Fund at the University of Tasmania. The fund will provide bursaries to students to help them further their studies and social justice causes. The fund is open for donations – please consider making a contribution through the University of Tasmania Foundation.