By Phil Escott
The state governments are currently considering a plan by the federal government to radically alter the public housing supply. The plan would slash $500 million from the housing budget.
In place of subsidised public accommodation, which has existed in Australia since 1945, the Coalition wants to charge market rents. Public and community housing tenants, and the hundreds of thousands of people currently on waiting lists, will be affected, as well as housing sector employees who may soon face retrenchment.
These changes are taking place in a context of exceptionally low vacancies and rising rents, which will be made worse by the upcoming Olympic Games. The Sydney Morning Herald last month reported that market rent increases of more than 30% are likely in Sydney.
The government is proposing to offer increased rent assistance to help cover the difference between subsidised rents and market rents. However, if the rumours are true that families will get up to $60 assistance a week each (single people will probably get far less), then rent assistance will still be nowhere near enough to cover market costs.
Already the housing department has stopped acquiring new properties, and is running down maintenance and upgrading work. Eventually, it may sell off its properties to private buyers (especially in "trendier" residential areas), forcing poor people to hunt for accommodation in cheaper areas with fewer services and less security of tenure. Poor people, many of whom are elderly or disabled, will be at the mercy of market forces and will face real difficulties getting past real estate agents' counters.
If you, like me, are outraged by the proposed changes, I urge you to write to your local member, contact Shelter NSW on (02) 9267 5733, which is coordinating a national campaign against the attacks, and attend the protest rallies being planned. Unless we stop these changes, we face the prospect of Australia becoming the homeless country.
[Phil Escott works for the Marrickville Area Community Housing Cooperative in Sydney.]