Push for homes

By Paul Pickering
KNOX City Council last week unveiled an action plan to respond to the municipality’s housing affordability crisis, establishing the Knox Affordable Housing Reference Group to lobby the State Government for the provision of improved social accommodation.
Dobson Ward councillor Karen Orpen led the council in imploring state and federal governments to “step up to the plate” saying she was incensed by what she said was governmental apathy towards the issue.
In response to a report detailing the lack of affordable housing in Knox, the council last week resolved to adopt a more proactive role in advocating on behalf of its embattled residents.
The announcement on Tuesday, 27 March coincided with the launch of the Australians for Affordable Housing campaign in Canberra earlier in the day.
Knox’s study suggests that almost 9 per cent of households in the municipality are experiencing excessive financial stress as defined by the State Government’s Melbourne 2030 vision document.
Rental rates in Knox have increased by 5-6 per cent in the past financial year – a figure which is double the level of inflation.
An equivalent increase in the median house price in Knox prompted Dobson Ward councillor Karen Orpen to declare that “the great Australian dream of owning a home has become a long and distant memory”.
Of particular concern to the council was the inadequate provision of social housing which the report suggests has spawned in increase in homelessness.
As an intake worker for UnitingCare Harrison Community Services, which provides crisis accommodation for the socially disadvantaged, Lauren Gordon is all too familiar with the dearth in social housing.
“As there is such a shortage of long-term accommodation, we see these people in crisis over and over again,” she said.
“There is no policy at present relating to people on low incomes accessing low interest loans, which pushes them to battle the rental market against people who hold full-time jobs.
“They have no chance.”
Cr Orpen also bemoaned what she said was the state’s abandonment of the underprivileged.
“In recent times, there has been no discernible increase in the amount of public housing and stock remains inadequate to provide for those to whom they purport to serve,” she declared.
A State Government spokesman said there had been a 68 per cent increase in the number of Office of Housing properties in Knox between 1999 and 2006.
According to Knox’s report, though, “current policies have limited effectiveness in ensuring equitable affordable housing provision.”
Cr Orpen noted that “while council plays a limited role in relation to the planning and provision of affordable housing, it can advocate on behalf of the community.”
At last Tuesday’s meeting, she was among three councillors appointed to the reference group which will oversee the implementation of the action plan.
Fellow appointee and Friberg Ward councillor Debbie Field said: “This is an issue that affects the whole community and we need to do something now.”