The backdoor privatisation of public housing

Ever since the 1944 Commonwealth Housing Commission Report from which the Commonwealth State Housing Agreements arose, the various State governments and the Federal Government have been attempting to find escape routes from their commitments to providing secure affordable housing to the bottom end of the market, especially the rental market.

Over the years there have been various rewrites of the Commonwealth States Housing Agreement. On each occasion there have been long and acrimonious “discussions” between the Commonwealth and the States over who is to be responsible for what and who is to fund those responsibilities.

The Global Financial Crisis, an event that originated in the American finance houses and banks, provided the rationale for the scrapping of the Commonwealth States Housing Agreement and its replacement by a new series of agreements, including the National Affordable Housing Agreement, and other schemes such as the National Rental Assistance scheme.

Part of Australia’s response to the Global Financial Crisis was the creation of the Nation Building Economic Stimulus Plan [NBESP] whose prime focus was the creation of employment in Australia. The Building Industry, being a labour intensive industry consuming predominantly Australian-made goods, was chosen as the vehicle for delivery of the economic stimulus. It was decided that under the NBESP banner there would be many thousands of houses built and that title to a significant number of these houses would be handed to various Community Housing organisations across Australia, i.e., the properties would not become government infrastructure, despite having been paid for by the government. In NSW, for example, 90 per cent of the NBESP stock is earmarked for supply to the Community Housing sector, with the balance being equally divided between the Homeless sector and the Aboriginal Housing Office.

The transfer of title for the houses built under NBESP banner to various members of the Community Housing sector will mark the commencement of Privatisation of Public Housing in Australia and the ending of the obligations arising from the Commonwealth States Housing Agreement.

It is ironic that the decision to privatise future Social Housing rental stock prior to it being tenanted will protect the tenants of that stock from the abuse, stress and torment being experienced by the existing Public Housing tenants. They have seen the security of their tenure removed, they have been subjected to arbitrary relocation, their children have been denied the opportunity to receive an uninterrupted education, to identify a few of the indignities inflicted on them by their landlord.

Ben Chifley would come out of his grave if he were to become aware of manner in which successive Federal and State governments have sought to actively avoid their responsibility to ensure the supply of affordable housing to all, and the way in which they have separated housing from a consideration of the broader aspects of the life of the people.

Source: South Sydney Herald March 2010 www.southsydneyherald.com.au