The City of Greater Geelong鈥檚 final report into affordable housing is inadequate to meet people鈥檚 needs for safe and affordable shelter.
The , released in February, was supposed to address a growing social and economic issue. Housing affordability in the private rental market has declined over the past 10鈥15 years, despite a significant rise in the supply of houses. The report noted that the number of affordable rental properties had decreased from 80% in 2000 to 20% in 2018.
The Department of Health and Human Services鈥 rental report in March showed that the in metropolitan Melbourne and regional Victoria. It found that the annual rate of the rise was both above that of the previous year and above the long-term average annual increase.
Close to 20% of those living in the northern suburbs of Corio and Norlane are under housing stress 鈥 defined as housing that costs more than 30% of gross household income. A contributing factor is the rise in private rentals.
As rent goes up, so too does the risk of homelessness, as landlords evict those who cannot afford to pay.
Corio and Norlane encompass 40% of all social housing tenants in the City of Greater Geelong, including those who live in public housing managed by the state government and community housing managed by not-for-profit organisations.
While 鈥減ublic housing鈥, 鈥渃ommunity housing鈥, 鈥渟ocial housing鈥 and 鈥渁ffordable housing鈥 are , they are often used interchangeably, 聽generating confusion and inaccuracies.
鈥淐ommunity housing鈥 is not public housing: it refers to public housing stock, public land or publicly subsidised housing that has been outsourced to not-for-profit organisations to manage and maintain under state government regulation. It is yet another example of government abrogating responsibility to the private sector.
The City of Greater Geelong鈥檚 housing plan refers to how it will support 鈥渟ocial housing鈥. Does that mean it will invest in state-owned and -operated public housing, or does it mean that rate payers will again end up subsidising the not-for-profit private sector?
The City Council鈥檚 report reads like it would like to become a community housing provider.
Community housing is less affordable: it hand picks tenants and is less inclined to deal with behavioural issues that might arise, meaning less secure tenures for people who need secure housing.
Of more concern is that the council has identified 42 council-owned sites it deems suitable for residential development. 聽It has proposed that any residential development must include a minimum 30% allocation for social housing.
This may sound good, but what it actually means is that the council is proposing to sell off publicly-owned land to private developers with a minimum guarantee that 30% will be used for 鈥渁ffordable鈥 social housing. This may be public housing or it may be not-for-profit privately-owned housing.
We don鈥檛 need to go too far back in history to know that private development, even if not-for-profit, cannot be trusted to deliver.
The on the former St Mary鈥檚 School site in central Geelong was to include private apartments, social housing and office space for Barwon Health. The first stage of the development in 2016, overseen by Common Equity Housing (CEHL), included 13 CEHL affordable apartments and 46 Barwon Health apartments.
Stage 2 of the project was supposed to include a further 134 dwellings for both private and social housing. Instead, CEHL, a registered charity, sold stage 2 to private developers which transformed it into a $50 million private residential project where for between $295,000鈥$479,500 and two apartments sold for $1.3 million.
Even not-for-profit charity status organisations cannot always be held to account.
Local councils do have limits on their budgets, but what if five local governments across the Geelong, Surf Coast and Colac Otway region banded together to demand state and federal support to build public housing on council-owned land?
This sort of planning and vision would help ensure the most vulnerable are not left without a roof over their head.
[Sarah Hathway is running for the Socialist Alliance in Windermere Ward in the City of Greater Geelong in the upcoming local council elections. Get involved in the campaign through her .]