Homeless call for Smart Political Solutions

  As Australia goes to the 2010 Federal Election , the taxpayer is burdened with " The Road Home " $600million plus over ten years -and repayment of $6billion in economic stimulus funding. A substantial percentage (over $2 billion) of this considerable expenditure of your taxpayer funds has gone and will continue to go to bureaucracies and infrastructure within various areas of government and its NGO or NFP partners. Since launching The Road Home to much fanfare in 2009 as fulfilment of Labors 2007 election commitment the Federal government has been presented with compelling evidence that their stated strategic aims (if they were ever about reducing homelessness) are not working. Even on the basis of their statistics (which we believe hopelessly understate the problem),the numbers of homeless people have increased dramatically - in Sydney and, by all accounts, across Australia.


 Despite an expensive cynical band-aid dressing of the visible homeless "problem" in the leadup to Australia's federal elections neither the Federal Labor Government nor their State counterpart have permanent affordable acceptable accomodation solutions for many of Sydney Citys rough sleepers, including myself. The style of case-managed "housing" delivery on offer is a staged process conditional on engagement with organisations whose role is to collect information on clients.Or to put it bluntly,they are spies.We value our privacy and independence,in many cases more than we value having a home. We emphatically do not need our privacy invaded. Another common issue is that of broken trust- Housing NSW and government in general along with their NGO service providers use housing as a bait in their quest to gather information.When they get all the information they want they offer a completely inadequate accommodation alternative-knowing it to be unacceptable-on a take it or go to the back of the queue basis.None are known to have been offered housing in the city, aside from mental health patients.


 I could but won't go on about the issues.Government and NGOs are well aware of the shortcomings which they have purposely put in place to ensure that there is no solution to homelessness and preferably that nobody looks in the appropriate direction to identify appropriate solutions.Why? Continuance of funding,courtesy of you,the Australian Taxpayer, to continuously provide band aid quick fixes which virtually guarantee a continuance of the problem.


 This blog is about solutions to homelessness.
The major driver of homelessness is affordability at location.There are two principal focal areas at the intersection of which is growing homelessness.

• The first and major cause is unregulated and collusive marketing driven valuation of rental (and property purchase) rates.Regulation is needed to set maximum market rentals,based on configuration.
• The second is the failure of local,state and federal governments to ensure that housing stocks available match the labour demand and sector affordability by postcode.
• The third is restrictive regulation of the workforces ability to negotiate meaningful wage outcomes prioritising the interests of bankers and employers.While these conditions are allowed to prevail, look forward to steady growth in homeless numbers. 

 Our intention is to identify solutions for the Sydney City Municipal area.We hope that these solutions identify parallels in other municipalities.


 Sydney City has sufficient accommodation already to house all who live work and live homelessly in this urbanity.The barriers are affordability and designation.Much of the municipalitys residential accommodation is in the form of "Serviced Apartments" , Hotel and Traveller accommodation services.A levy of 4% of available accommodation units in each complex,whether hotels serviced apartments or other accommodation, should be made available for social housing use.These proprietors are hogging an essential commodity in a City which does not have unlimited land to build on.A progressive "phase in" period of 2 to four years may be necessary to accommodate the business projections of affected businesses.

• Develop an accommodation index per postcode.Identify actual incomes and use an accommodation cost of 30% of income to arrive at Accommodation Pricing.
• All New developments including must contribute 4% of their worth to a social housing pool administered by Council,not State.If the development has a residential component then that social accommodation must be taken from that complex.Social Housing allocation offset purchases(for non residential development)must be in the same postcode.
• Transient Workforce Accommodation. Many workers today have skills or work in industries which have short term project life and require constant relocation. Transient workers might consider it preferable and more economical to live in mobile homes, as compared with traditional housing.This scheme would most effectively be implemented via Centrelink and involve a "buyout" of the persons Centrelink and Housing entitlements for a number of years. 
• Housing Authorities should consider keeping storage facilities for tenants who wish to travel for extended periods (such as aged pensioners) 

 The common thread with these proposals is that none require repetitive taxpayer funding. All except Transient Workforce Accommodation require no taxpayer funding at all and obligate municipalities to plan appropriately and sustainably for growth. 

Rudd & Keneally,Macklin & Burney Hopeless on Homeless

These politicians just don't seem to get it- As Keneally sets up yet another committee of Pastors and homelessness industry parasites, its clear that the only voices your politicians are really interested in are those they choose-those advocating excessive funding of pariah Christian NGOs and expansion of costly government departments.

 Lets start with Housing.NSW announced 4000 affordable homes built, but waiting lists at least quadruple that. And the social housing comes with draconian strings attached.Todays social housing tenant is not afforded the same rights and protections as other tenants-Social Housing Tenants have special clauses in the Residential Tenancies Act which pertain exclusively to them-clauses making it easier to end your tenancy.Ultimately, a useful tool for governments who don't hesitate to stoop to blackmail as a means of exerting population control.

 Jenny Macklin and Kevin Rudds "The Road Home" is not working,and will not achieve its objective of halving homelessness by 2020.While Stocklands report 200,000 houses short in NSW now, these people focus on how they might give more money to NGOs, to "solve all our other problems." Our perspective might sound exceeding simplistic, but we cannot fathom how the multiple genius NGOs whose speciality is everything except housing, and who are being funded out of this massive mismanagement of taxpayers money, will contribute one iota to lowering the housing shortage.The critical housing shortage, despite the spin emanating from ACOSS,NCOSS ,the parasites they represent,and their bipartisan political allies will not be addressed by proclaimed "mental health experts,"nor any other experts who are not part of the property business.

 Many disillusioned homeless have already walked out, disgusted with the draconian reality of the Supported Accommodation Assistance Program (SAAP) a cynical excercise in using marginalised people as income generators for NGOS.

 Of extra concern is the insertion into the equation of Data Mining by State and Federal Governments, and their contracted NGOs, which accompanies "The Road Home." Relying on Patrick McClure's ( The McClure Report) erroneous, but thus far unchallenged concept of "mutual obligation", the logic is that unemployed claimants should do something in return for receiving allowances such as Newstart.The "mutual obligation" Test was met preceding The McClure Report:Pay Taxes when you work- collect allowances when you don't. Any other obligation is an extra obligation.In addition,we are reliably informed,a contract signed under duress is generally null and void if tested against existing case law.So much for the furphy of mutual obligation -just a Howardly attack on marginalised people.


 While assisting a Newstart applicant with her mandatory Job Network contract recently,I was disturbed to find a clause authorising the Network Service Provider to access ANY personal information the client provided, AND "to use the information...or for any purpose (the Service Provider) saw fit. This amounts to giving the Service Provider carte blanche to sell the information to anyone, for marketing, debt collection or any other purpose.It also neatly ties in with the Federal Governments quiet deployment of new internal surveillance measures. When challenged,the Network case manager quickly called Centrelink, who granted an exemption from using the Job Network to their client.


 If you are asked to sign such a document, as a precondition to accessing essential government services, such as Centrelink or Housing, this amounts to blackmail-You should refuse to sign, unless you are unconcerned with the privacy of your personal information.

 We have noticed in the past 6 months many new impacts upon marginalised living in the city.There have been more ex-mental health patients than ever presenting on the Streets.Some more able to fend for themselves than others.A few TOTALLY unable to take care of even the most rudimentary self care.Many periodically violent, or presenting a threat to themselves and unaccustomed members of the public.All whom we have been able to communicate with tell of recent release from one or another mental health care institution. Simultaneously, State Government signs on a new "Homelessness Services" contract provider in the inner city, Neami Ltd, a Mental Health specialist organisation with NO previous experience of Homelessness management.Using the information we have available, we strongly suspect a callous Federal and State Labor manipulation of mentally ill people, out of the health and into the social housing budget- ahead of prospective tenants who have waited years. A neat little excercise which keeps the NGOs in cashflow,the government departments growing, lowers numbers in Mental Health care (Success-wooohoo!!) while showing a rise in socially housed persons-using the same people,with a few token "genuine long term homeless" thrown in. We note that on the information supplied to us,just 25 housing units are available per year via this new "Inner City Homelessness contractor." We do not blame the contractor for doing what they are contracted to-far from it, we applaud them-its what they are capitalistically contracted to do.But we do question the disingenuous government tactics, and chronic waste of taxpayers money.We also wonder what will happen to other mentally affected people-the residue who will remain homeless.

 We have noted the rise in Political rhetoric from Macklin,Burney and such, painting a wide brush public persona of homeless people as mentally deficient.Quite apart from the unnecessarily disparaging (and often untrue) portrayal of homeless people, Labor politicians strategy is actually leading to increasing homelessness. There have been several who have been recently evicted from long term month-to-month tenancies, because the government is seen (reasonably) by landlords as a more stable tenant.The lie that "properties must be priced at 20% below market value leaves two commercial options for those realtors less concerned with ethics. The first is to reserve the "lowest quality" properties and only offer these options to social housing tenants- but charge the government 20% below the premium quality price for the area.If necessary,let the property (bogus lease,phantom lessee) at that premium price for a month.Option 2 is to just inflate all advertised rental prices,then discount to the premium area rate.Not rocket science. One agent cheerfully admitted doing the second. But the government is renting at Fair Market value? No, they have a closed list of agents who can provide these properties.

  Government Budget measures flowing from the Henry Tax Reforms failed to do away with, or lower the attraction, of negative gearing for residential property investors

 Our humble analysis is that this program will lead to further residential property speculation, and attendant rises in residential property values, prompted by the lucrative and comparatively stable leases offered. It will drive more low income people out of the residential housing market,or into illegal overcrowded occupancies. It will inevitably make home purchases less affordable,and rental a prerogative of those on middle incomes only.

 The Road Home and all other Federal and State Government programmes, do NOT address the issue of turning the tap off on homelessness.
  Federal Labor has failed to legislate wage increases or remove the legal constraints preventing effective worker lobbying. Labor aligned Unions have submitted application for a paltry wage increase of $29 per week.or 70c an Hour, taking the minimum wage to a whopping $15-30 odd an hour-for adults. This level of #wageslavery is unacceptable and unsustainable in any metropolitan and some regional areas.
  As #wageslavery continues to permeate up the income scale, higher qualifications become meaningless tokens. The Prime Ministers spouse Therese Reins former business is a primary Howard era and current driver of #wageslavery.

 The many smokers among our marginalised community are most affected by the "Health NGO & departmentally driven 25% extra rise in cigarette tax. We note that no parallel attempt was made to raise the cost of deadly carbon monoxide producing petrol by 25%, yet we are all forced to inhale this cancer causing toxin as we walk the sidewalks of Sydney. If the Cigarette Tax is a genuine Health initiative as portrayed, why is it not also applied to the products of the nations biggest polluters who cause countless respiratory problems. It is because,like Howard / Abbott, the Rudd Labor Machine attacks those most defenceless, economically.

 The only successes we see in The Road Home are as with its predecessors, as outlined in The McClure Report. The successful expansion of government departments and political power for certain ministries AND the rapid growth of the pariah NGO sector. If that is the Rudd Governments criteria for success then they will succeed magnificently.

 This post should not be read as an indictment of the Kevin Rudd Government alone, but equally of Rudd Labor and the previous Howard Coalition. The Abbott Coalition? Well, their policy is summarised most succinctly by their good leader,Tony Abbott (if we can believe him) "The Poor will Always be with us."

 Our election advice for #ozelection2010 #Ruddfail #Laborfail #abbottcide Vote balance of responsibility. Vote for REAL CHANGE. Why just change drivers when you have the option to change racetracks?

 Don't do it for us!! Do it for your children.Do you want them sentenced to a life of #bank servitude??