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Download articleLetter to the editor (Sunday Age, unpublished 07/03/2010)
In response to: http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/editorial/the-housing-problem-that-wont-go-away-20100227-pa60.html
Victoria's housing affordability crisis is not new, but as it eats away at the housing security of more and more households, it has become big news. House prices, rents, homelessness and long waiting lists all contribute to a situation where safe and affordable housing can no longer be taken for granted.
This is a challenge that both federal and state governments are responding to through initiatives like Nation Building, the National Rental Affordability Scheme, the White Paper on Homelessness and the soon to be released Victorian Homelessness Strategy. In Victoria, we have leadership from the Premier, Housing Minister and VicUrban in adopting bold new approaches to public and social housing which create thriving, mixed communities such as the Kensington Redevelopment and Elizabeth Street Common Ground.
The solutions to our affordability problems are already here. To put them in place more widely we require genuine bi-partisan support and a long-term plan for sustained investment to create more of the right types of housing in the areas of most need. Stephen Nash
CEO, HomeGround Services
The way home: new solutions for homelessness with Common Ground development (BOV magazine)
Letter to the editor (Emerald Hill Weekly, 4/03/2010)
In response to the letter 'Public housing a better option', I agree completely with Mr Newey that the Office of Housing does an excellent job given their resources and available housing. HomeGround is a big supporter of public housing as a vital community safety net. In fact, we need sustained government investment to create more homes for those currently on waiting lists. Public housing is a key piece of the affordable housing puzzle that needs to be coordinated with community and private options.
The article 'Tenants Union calls for housing management switch' reported on only a small part of our comprehensive submission to the inquiry on public housing. Our full submission covered many other areas including the need for a long-term affordable housing plan leading to more housing, linked in support services, greater social mix, management reforms, job creation and high environmental standards.
Stephen Nash
CEO, HomeGround Services
Heath Holst interviewed (3CR, 23/02/2010)
No download available
Stephen Nash interviewed by Derek Guille (ABC Local Radio 774, 17/02/2010)
No download available.
Letter to the editor (The Age, 17/2/2010)
Let community groups run public housing, says tenants union (Melbourne Times, 10/2/2010)
Letter to the editor (The Australian, unpublished 29/01/2010)
In response to: http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/nation/homeless-figures-aredistorting-housing-shortage/story-e6frg6nf-1225823765035
Hometrack and SQM Research say that Australia has too much housing. The National Housing Supply Council and HomeGround's own experience as inner-Melbourne's largest volume housing and support agency tell us that Australia is in the midst of a severe affordable housing shortage. Private rental is now inaccessible for thousands of low income households. This includes those who have experienced homelessness in the past as well as our 'new' homeless - individuals and families who have been priced out of the market. This contradiction indicates there are significant barriers preventing low income households from accessing existing housing. It also reminds us that creating additional supply will not deliver low income housing outcomes without overcoming these access barriers.
The issue of how much total housing we have is an interesting academic debate, but it misses the point. In order to deliver on our nation's social inclusion goals and homelessness reduction targets, Australia must create a significant number of new homes that are specifically targeted at low income and formerly homeless households. Ongoing support services would then be provided to those who need them. This is the recipe for solving the affordable housing crisis and ending homelessness in Australia.
Stephen Nash
CEO, HomeGround Services
FaHCSIA white paper anniversary document
HomeGround and Elizabeth Street Common Ground were mentioned in this Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs (FaHCSIA) document which charts 12 months progress since the release of the Australian government's white paper on homelessness.
Department of Family, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs Annual Report
Yarra Council crackdown on illegal rooming houses continues (City of Yarra, 10/12/2009)
Find out more...Melbourne adapts New York model to fight homelessness at home (National Housing Conference, 24/11/20
Government acts on rooming houses (Leader Newspapers online, 30/10/09)
Also published in the Moreland Leader, Preston Leader and Northcote Leader
Find out more...Vic govt targets dodgy rooming houses (AAP, 30/10/2009)
Also published by Nine MSN News
Find out more...Rooming Rogues (Star Newspapers, 20/10/2009)
Published in South Morang, Mill Park and Bundoora Star; Thomastown, Epping and Lalor Star; Wallan, Kilmore Broadford Star; and Whittlesea, Mernda and Doreen Star
Find out more...Damning report should open doors to safer rooming houses (The Age Opinion, 7/10/2009)
Find out more...Fears building upgrades could freeze out room-seekers (Melbourne Times, 6/10/2009)
Mentally ill man evicted from Reservoir house for having assistance dog (Preston Leader, 30/9/3009)
Find out more...Coronial inquest into 2006 deaths in Brunswick rooming house (The Wire, 29/9/2009)
Broadcast on 2SER Sydney, Radio Adelaide and other community stations across Australia
Find out more...Melbourne wants to bring city's homeless in from the cold (Melbourne Times, 5/9/2009)
Act on homelessness, US visitor warns (The Age, 30/3/3009)
Also published by WA Today and the Brisbane Times.
Find out more...Rooms in 'big mess' (Monash Journal, 23/3)
Note: This article contains an error. HomeGround didn’t specifically call for an investigation of
Victorian Accommodation Centre, but do support wider reforms aimed at all private rooming house operators.
Feeling at home (Caulfield Glen Eira Leader, 10/3)
Article not available online.
Letter to the Editor (The Age, 3/3/2009)
In response to: http://www.theage.com.au/national/life-in-a-hostel-environment-20090301-8lhp.html
Life in a hostel environment (2/3/2009) portrays an almost idyllic version of what thousands of Victorians experience daily in shared accommodation.
While a minority 'choose' to live in this environment, it is normally a choice of last resort. Very few people enjoy living in conditions characterised by a lack of privacy and control over possessions and personal space. The fact some people can make the best of this only shows their personal resilience.
Mr Hassard also failed to mention the darker side of shared living - the poorly regulated rooming house sector. Melbourne's housing affordability and homelessness crisis has spawned a proliferation of makeshift dwellings in unused office spaces and run down suburban houses throughout our city. Governments are struggling to cope without the necessary regulatory tools and resources.
One rooming house brought to my attention yesterday comprises 6 rooms and currently houses 17 international students sleeping 3 to a room on dirty mattresses; shower in a bathroom with pieces of wood covering holes in the floor; and who cook on gas rings coated with an inch of brown residue.
I have applauded the Federal Government's $6 billion investment in public and social housing because a lack of housing has always been at the core of our homelessness problems. The other part of the problem is the lack of mandated standards and regulation in the Victorian rooming house sector.
Stephen Nash
CEO, HomeGround Services
Developer makes common ground with homeless (Financial Review, 20/02/2009)
Tourists and students evacuated from illegal rooming house in Richmond (Melbourne Leader, 5/2/2009)
Find out more...Services hurt as funding model forces providers to prioritise (Melbourne Times, 4/2/2009)
Also published in the Emerald Hill Weekly.
Homelessness discussion (3AW Drive with Derryn Hinch, 15/1/2009)
HomeGround Acting CEO Julia Canty-Waldron spoke with Derryn Hinch about the eviction of the Student Housing Action Collective (SHAC) by Melbourne University and how this situation has brought greater attention to the broader problem of homelessness in Australia.
Visa deadline nearly up for Homeless stars (AAP/SBS, 18/12/2008)
AAP story also reported by LiveNews.com.au and the Australian Visa Bureau Ltd
Find out more...HomeGround and Melbourne's Indigenous community (Radio 3KND, 16/12/2008)
Melbourne's Indigenous community radio station, 3KND, talked to HomeGround about the Smith Street Indigenous Outreach Support Program and their involvement with the local community in Melbourne, and specifically in the Collingwood area, over more than ten years.
50 Homeless World Cup asylum seekers to be housed in Melbourne (AAP/Herald Sun, 12/12/2008)
AAP story also reported by The West Australian, Nine MSN, Brisbane Times, Sydney Morning Herald and The Age.
Find out more...Economic crisis takes the sparkle out of Christmas (AAP, 12/12/2008)
Published widely in regional newspapers including the Geelong Advertiser, Ballarat Courier and the Cairns Weekend Post.
Up to 40 homeless soccer players now seeking asylum (The Age, 11/12/2008)
The Age story also reported by WA Today.
Find out more...Improving services for homeless people (Yarra News, 12/2008)
Groups want better housing (Emerald Hill Weekly, 23/9/2008)
HomeGround responds to Melbourne Leader
I wish to respond to the article ``House goes begging'' (Melbourne Leader, August 11).Stephen Nash, CEO (13th August 2008)
HomeGround hasn't fully taken over the property from the Office of Housing as yet. There are still repair works being done by the Office of Housing before it is tenantable. We expect these works to be completed later this week and in anticipation we are currently assessing applications for a tenant.
The gardening works referred to HomeGround should also have been completed before any handover to us. However, these works will not further delay the property being tenanted.
It is pleasing to hear of the concern of the neighbour for the housing to be available to a homeless family. In these tough times of an acute affordable housing shortage there are an increasing number of families in Melbourne who find themselves homeless. As public housing waiting times are usually many years or indefinite, there are hundreds of homeless families in Melbourne that have become stuck in very unsafe conditions sharing private rental houses with complete strangers.
The housing shortage is so desperate that normal suburban homes are being rented out by unscrupulous landlords to multiple homeless families each paying up to $300 per week to be crammed into just one bedroom.
Sometimes the loungeroom is also rented at $300 per week for another homeless family to live in. Imagine trying to protect and raise your children as one of four families sharing a three bedroom house.
The State Government has not yet developed legislation that ensures basic standards or rights for these vulnerable people. This hidden tragedy is part of a broader housing and homelessness crisis that can easily be solved by the Federal Government and State Government working together and seriously investing funding into public and community housing.
We have leadership and housing ministers at a federal and state level who are committed to tackling homelessness and the housing crisis. They have been critical of the Howard Government ripping $3 billion out of public housing. This was after a decade of cuts by the previous federal Labor government.
It is time to restore the balance and invest for our future. A National Affordable Housing Agreement is being negotiated right now and requires an initial $5 billion extra investment this year to just stop the housing crisis worsening even further.
The reality of rooming houses (The Age letters, 16/6/2008)
From a homeless service provider perspective it is pleasing to see the hidden and shocking housing circumstances of our most disadvantaged getting a run in the media. ("Left with nowhere to go after years of living in squalor", The Age, 14/6)
The existence of a reasonably effective homeless service in Victoria has meant that substantially fewer people live on our streets than in other Australian cities. However, the system has always relied heavily on private hotels and boarding houses to shelter homeless people. This strategy is now failing and requires an urgent rethink.
The State Government spends millions of dollars each year assisting homeless people to stay in places like the Western Lodge. But there is no system to ensure minimum standards are met for the funds expended and an increasing number of people we assist refuse to go back to these places for safety reasons. They prefer to sleep rough.
These issues are simply symptoms of our lack of a decent housing strategy and the growing affordable housing crisis. The solutions are simple and more cost effective in the long run - but they do require political will. The federal and state governments need to provide adequate funding to the Office of Housing; so it may accelerate the growth of public housing and other forms of affordable housing.
Stephen Nash, CEO
Published in The Age, letters to the editor, 16th June, 2006
Collaboration to Help Solve Homelessness Finds a Home (Pro Bono Australia, 5/5/2008)
Pro Bono Australia story also reported by National Homelessness Information Clearinghouse
Find out more...Supportive housing discussion (ABC radio 774, 19/3/2008)
Jon Faine discusses supportive housing and Elizabeth Street Common Ground with Jon Faine. Download not available.