‘People think less of me’: social and public housing

Social housing providers are reporting waitlists that are longer than ever before, but many Aussies still feel ashamed to find themselves accessing a much-needed service. Destiny is a young mum with a two-and-a-half-year-old, living in affordable housing while completing Year 12 as a mature-age student before heading to university.

She has been in the social housing system in Victoria since she was a child and said overcoming the stigma of living in social housing is one of the most difficult parts of the journey.

“There’s this impression that people who live in social housing are a certain way... that people living in housing are eyesores,” she said.

“There is always this shadow of ‘I live in social housing’ and it makes me think people think less of me – that I must not have worked hard enough to be able to afford a private rental. There’s that stigma.”

Destiny spent time in hotel accommodation, refuges and transitional housing before finding a government spot with the help of Launch Housing, which is a homelessness service.

She explained that as she has gotten older, her experience in social housing has been a positive one.

“In my older years, I have had much more of a positive experience. Obviously, when I was younger, it was a bit different. Things weren’t as good, but that’s just my point of view, you know, growing up in the flats was nothing like where I am right now.

“I’m happy where I am now, but you know, I can’t say the same for the people who live in the towers or any other housing, because everyone’s different, like the housing types are different. But I’ve noticed a big improvement with how they’re looked after.

“My neighbours are just private renters and they don’t know I’m in [social] housing. For all they know, I’m just an average renter like them.” Waitlists for housing on the rise Right around Australia, rental demand continues to climb, stock is in short supply, and prices are skyrocketing.

These factors, along with inflation and cost of living pressures, are leading to many tenants who were previously living on the line needing to access social housing services for the first time.

As of 30 June 2019, the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare reported that the number of households on waiting lists was 148,000. That excludes those transferring between properties.

In 2018 to 2019, among new allocations to the households with the greatest need, the majority (72%, or 10,800 households) received public housing within one year of applying.

However, this data was collected pre-pandemic, and since then the situation has worsened.

In Victoria for example, Homes Victoria recorded 36,237 priority applicants for social housing in March 2022, and 20,837 applicants who registered interest in social housing, to make a total of 64,304 applicants.

That number had been steadily increasing since March 2021, when 59,078 total applicants were registered.

With Prime Minister Anthony Albanese having personally experienced social housing, growing up in a council home in Sydney’s inner-west, many are hoping for more funding and policy reform.

The Commonwealth has so far committed to establishing the $10 billion Housing Australia Future Fund, which will build 30,000 social and affordable dwellings in its first five years.

It will also introduce a National Housing Supply and Affordability Council, to ensure the Federal Government plays a leadership role in increasing housing supply and improving affordability. It will also introduce a new National Housing and Homelessness Plan.

Julie Collins, Minister for Housing and Homelessness, recently chaired the first meeting of Housing Ministers from across the country in almost five years, to begin work on this plan. She will meet again with Ministers in the coming weeks.

“Homelessness and housing insecurity are among the greatest social and economic challenges we face in 2022,” Ms Collins said.

“The situation has been exacerbated not just by events including the ongoing pandemic and natural disasters, but also by almost a decade of neglect under the Coalition.

“We know that housing and a sense of home is a basic human need, and housing is fundamental to the wellbeing of all Australians. Safe and affordable housing is central to the dignity of all Australians. It is critical to ensuring that opportunity is shared equally in this country.”

However, many of those in the social housing industry feel much more needs to be done – and sooner.

“We’re a wealthy nation and this problem is solve-able,” said Bevan Warner, CEO of Launch Housing.

“OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) countries provide twice as much social housing than Australia does and we urgently need a national plan.

“We need national policy solutions like significant investment in more social housing and we need improvements in the real value of Commonwealth rent assistance and in the NewStart allowance, so that people who experience an economic shock don’t fall into homelessness.”

Many access support for the first time

Shelters and housing assistance programs across the country are noticing a shift in those accessing their services, with many who have never had to seek any kind of help before coming forward.

Mr Warner said the worsening rental affordability crisis is one of the main perpetrators.

“We’ve had people who were able to rent in or close to the city see rent increases and need to seek access to our services, or have had to leave with nowhere to go, or move interstate, or rely on family.

“We’ve seen a tightening of the rental market such that people who thought they would never need assistance now need somewhere safe and affordable to live.”

Jenny Ryan is the manager of Byron Bay-based homelessness hub Fletcher Street Cottage and said as a result of Covid, the floods, and the rental crisis, more people have been seeking help in the area.

“Since Fletcher Street Cottage

opened in April this year we have had numerous people accessing our services who were flood affected,” Ms Ryan said.

“Some were living in temporary accommodation in Byron. We even had parents with their children coming to our breakfast program.”

Despite their hardship, she said many of those accessing services did not feel comfortable doing so.

“People facing rental stress are being forced to access help in ways they never have before and to sometimes move out of the area to find secure housing.

“We have had to be very encouraging to some, as they felt these services should be for others. There was certainly discomfort in finding themselves in need of social support, particularly on top of the distress and trauma they had recently faced.”

The need for the stigma to shift

With an increasing number of people accessing social housing and the rental affordability crunch only expected to worsen, experts say it’s important to see the positives of the essential service.

“The experience of most vibrant cities in the world is that there’s an integrated mix of social housing and home ownership. It’s well designed and well supported social housing that makes our communities more diverse and fun, and that’s how vibrant cities are characterised,” Mr Warner said.

Destiny said her experience has taught her that there are all types of demographics who live in social housing and who have been helped by it.

“There’s not one type of person who needs social housing, it’s a mix. You know there were people in the floods who come from completely normal backgrounds who had their house stripped away from them and needed housing.

“There’s also a lot of older women who find themselves homeless when they get divorced and they need housing. It doesn’t mean they’re any less or different to anybody else.”