REPORT ON HOUSING ASSISTANCE

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CHAPTER 5 - GROUPS WITH SPECIAL HOUSING NEEDS

5.1 A large proportion of submissions to the inquiry came from groups representing people on low income who, because they also suffer from other social or physical disadvantage find it difficult to access the private rental market. This include the following people who are either not catered for in that market or are the target of covert (rarely overt) discrimination:

• people with physical disabilities (some of whom suffer from severe disabilities and may need modified accommodation);
• people with psychiatric disabilities and people who suffer bouts of mental illness;
• indigenous people on low incomes;
• people from certain ethnic backgrounds;
• single parents with young children; and
• the aged on low incomes (particularly those who are frail).

5.2 The above list is by no means exhaustive. Large families, and young people and people who are being rehabilitated after drug use or gambling addiction are other categories that could be included in the list. People in most of those categories have made submissions to the inquiry and the Committee recognises that they have special claims to housing assistance.

5.3 All submitters and witnesses to the Committee agreed unanimously that the private rental market did not cater for people with special housing needs and that the majority of people who could be described as `disadvantaged' needed to turn to public or community housing in order to be adequately housed. A brief overview of the problems faced by such groups follows.

Housing needs of indigenous people

5.4 The most disadvantaged group in the community in terms of housing remain the indigenous people of Australia. The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission (ATSIC) cites figures from Roger Jones' analysis of the 1991 ABS Census data undertaken for its Housing and Community Infrastructure Needs Survey (HCINS). Jones found that although indigenous families represent 1.4 per cent of all families in Australia, they:

• account for 38 per cent of families living in improvised dwellings;
• account for 22 per cent of families assessed as homeless (defined as living in impoverished homes or sharing severely overcrowded dwellings);
• are 20 times more likely than non Indigenous families to be homeless; and
• are four times more likely than non Indigenous families to be in housing stress (13 per cent defined as overcrowded, that is, having additional bedroom need). [1]

5.5 Commenting on the disadvantaged situation experienced by the majority of indigenous people in relation to housing, ATSIC stated that it believed that `State, Territory and local governments have neglected their responsibilities to indigenous communities over the years'. [2]

5.6 Some steps have been taken by State governments in recent years to address the inequalities experienced by indigenous people in obtaining access to adequate housing. In Victoria, the Aboriginal Housing Board [3] looks after the housing needs of that state's Aboriginal people. The situation is particularly difficult in states such as Western Australia and the Northern Territory which have large Aboriginal populations. In WA an Aboriginal Housing Directorate has been established within Homeswest (that State's housing authority). The WA government's submission stated that it is actively seeking to address the problems posed by the lack of essential services in many Aboriginal communities but it complained that:

Funding for Aboriginal housing under the CSHA is a specific purpose grant and has remained constant in nominal money terms at $15.862 million per annum since 1989/90. This represents a loss of funding in real terms of more than $10.5 million over the seven years to 1996/97. [4]

5.7 The Northern Territory government has signed the first bilateral Agreement in partnership with the Commonwealth and ATSIC to establish the Indigenous Housing Authority of the Northern Territory. The aim of the Authority is to reduce duplication in administration and achieve optimum use of the funds available for housing indigenous people. However, ATSIC remains critical of the WA, NT and South Australian governments for failing to provide adequate funds for homeland living. [5]

5.8 The Northern Territory Department of Housing and Local Government's submission listed the housing problems faced by Northern Territory Aborigines in urban areas as being:

• discrimination by landlords;
• affordability, as many indigenous people have limited incomes and median rentals are high throughout most of the Territory;
• availability of houses of suitable size, as the average indigenous household size is 5.5 people compared to 2.9 for all households in the NT;
• urban living skills; and
• cultural pressures. [6]

5.9 This assessment was supported by other submissions from indigenous groups including ATSIC, the Centre for Aboriginal Economic Policy Research and the NSW Aboriginal Housing Development Committee as being typical of the situation of Aboriginal people living in all major urban centres throughout Australia. [7]

5.10 Submissions also pointed to the numerous difficulties faced by indigenous people in accessing the private rental market. In remote areas, private rental housing is not generally available and indigenous people suffer from a high level of unmet housing need. Since 26 per cent of its inhabitants being Aboriginal (compared to 1.6 per cent nationally) the Northern Territory faces special problems of housing availability (45 per cent of Northern Territorians rent compared to 25 per cent nationally) and affordability.

5.11 In the absence of detailed figures, it is not possible to ascertain the extent to which indigenous people are helped by the rent assistance payment. There are certainly large numbers of indigenous people in public housing. In the ACT for example, 40 per cent of indigenous people in the Territory live in public housing. [8] The Committee notes the complaint by ATSIC and the NSW Aboriginal Housing Development Committee that participants in ATSIC's Community Development Employment Scheme (CDEP) are not eligible for DSS Rent Assistance, in spite of the low level of income they receive from CDEP. [9]

Recommendation 16: The Committee recommends that the Commonwealth investigate the reasons why participants in ATSIC's Community Development Employment Scheme (CDEP) program are not eligible for Rent Assistance and whether the current rules should be amended to make them eligible.

5.12 In his analysis of the 1991 ABS Census data on which the above figures are based, Roger Jones also found that 27 per cent of all indigenous families were in After Housing Poverty (AHP) compared with 12 per cent of the non-Indigenous population. Of those indigenous families who are renting privately, 31 per cent are in AHP.

5.13 ATSIC manages a concessional indigenous home loans scheme (which has operated since 1974) aimed at assisting indigenous families to purchase their own home. The home ownership rate of indigenous Australian is only 27 per cent compared with an overall Australian rate of 69 per cent. To date, the scheme has assisted 7,000 indigenous families and appears to be successful in addressing home ownership disadvantage among Aboriginal and Torres Strait people.

5.14 ATSIC is also very supportive of community housing for indigenous people pointing out that it is often the only housing provider that many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people can rely on and that it is a form of housing that has numerous advantages:

• community housing provides a more flexible and appropriate form of housing for indigenous people, and responds to the structure of family households, the mobility of populations, cultural factors and low incomes;
• there are social and economic advantages through community self management; and
• it often forms the basis for the delivery of other community services, such as Community Development Employment Projects (CDEP). [10]

5.15 The Committee agrees with ATSIC that the community housing concept brings particular benefits to indigenous people. The issue of community housing (not just for indigenous peoples) is discussed in more detail in Chapter 6 of this report. In the Committee's view, the housing situation of indigenous people can only be improved if there is enough information about the main areas of need. The Committee welcomes the 1997 joint statistical publication, The Health and Welfare of Australia's Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples, by the Australian Bureau of Statistics and the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. As well as improvements in data collection, the Committee sees a need for greater coordination of services between all levels of government to facilitate access by indigenous peoples to both mainstream and specific programs that are available to alleviate their housing problems.

Recommendation 17: The Committee recommends that the Commonwealth, States and Territories continue efforts towards coordination of services between all levels of government to facilitate access by indigenous peoples to both mainstream and specific programs that are designed to alleviate their housing problems.

Housing needs of people with disabilities

5.16 The Committee received 31 submissions from around Australia from groups and individuals concerned with the special housing needs of people suffering from various disabilities. Some were from people supporting those with physical disabilities, others represented those with psychiatric disabilities or suffered from mental illness while others still were people with HIV/AIDS.

5.17 The effect of illness or disability means that those people usually have high living costs (needing special equipment, home care and extra medical care) while at the same time they all share a low income status. [11] Some are able to work part-time but most are dependent on some form of disability pension to survive. This means that many private landlords perceive them as lacking the necessary financial security they look for in tenants, especially in the areas where most people with disabilities prefer and need to live. Location is crucial to this group because they are often highly dependent on specialist medical treatment which in many cases is only available from large inner city hospitals. Many have special transport needs which can prove to be extremely costly.

5.18 The Regional Victorian Rural Disability Association argued that people with a psychiatric illness or an intellectual disability endured particular discrimination since many landlords were reluctant to rent to them. [12] Other groups involved with people with disabilities referred to landlords' reluctance to rent to these people. [13] For people living with AIDS and those suffering from mental illness, discrimination does not simply result in lack of access to appropriate housing or perhaps in forced relocation but often it results in a deterioration in their condition brought about by the stress caused by their precarious housing situation.

5.19 Although anti-discrimination legislation is in force in each State, it offers little protection in this respect because that type of discrimination is often extremely difficult to prove. The level of demand for accommodation, especially in inner city areas is such that the landlord can simply argue that the property is needed for personal reasons or that the applicant has just missed out on the accommodation sought.

5.20 People with physical disabilities (and people living with an advancing illness) face other difficulties: they usually find it necessary to live in residences which can accommodate wheelchair access and which have been modified to enable the occupants to be as independent as possible. In its submission, the West Australian government pointed out that the cost of providing modified housing suitable for people with disabilities could be up to 20-30 per cent higher than the cost of providing more conventional public housing. [14]

5.21 Private landlords are unlikely to be willing to bear those extra costs. They would also be reluctant to allow the configuration of their property to be changed to the extent necessary to accommodate the needs of the group under consideration since the modifications needed could reduce the property's value and future rentability. [15]

5.22 Most people with physical disabilities need ground floor accommodation. Blind people for example often need a yard to accommodate a guide dog. Other people with disabilities prefer to live in a group situation in order to be able to afford some live-in or part-time help which is essential to their well-being. Few homes on the private rental market can accommodate all these special needs. In addition, this is a group for which security of tenure is extremely important because moving is both very inconvenient and extremely costly. As a result, this group is almost completely dependent on public and community housing to meet their housing needs.

5.23 A number of submissions pointed to the positive outcomes achieved for people with special needs such as people with disabilities, through community housing and called for more government funds to be made available to enable people to access this form of housing assistance. The potential benefits of community housing are discussed in Chapter 6 of this report.

5.24 The Committee is of the view that the evidence before it clearly demonstrates that the private rental market fails to meet the requirements of people with special needs. The reasons for market failure varies, ranging from inappropriate housing (as in the case of people needing wheelchair access and special bathrooms and kitchens) to landlords' fear that the tenants may have problems paying relatively high rents and reluctance to house certain ethnic groups in a particular neighbourhood. The result is that people belonging to the groups described in this Chapter are disadvantaged in the private rental market. The Committee considers that their plight shows that they have a special claim to have priority access to public housing and that many of the groups need housing in specific areas such as the inner city.

5.25 Another special group represented by the Aids Council of NSW told the Committee:

People living with HIV/AIDS do not choose to live in high rental, inner city areas because they are high rental areas. In most cases they have little choice because the eastern suburbs and inner city are where the centres of expertise in HIV medicine such as St Vincent's Hospital, the Albion St Centre, Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, Darlinghurst Community medical centre and the Taylor Square Medical centre are located, along with most of the community organisations and support services such as ACON, PLWHA, BGF and the Day Centre. [16]

Recommendation 18: The Committee recommends that the Commonwealth, States and Territories continue efforts towards:

• regular reviews of the areas of greatest housing need for indigenous peoples;
• better coordination of services between all levels of government to facilitate access to existing programs at Commonwealth and State level; and
• regular assessments of whether additional funding is needed and in what areas.

Recommendation 19: The Committee recommends that the Commonwealth, State and Territory governments provide sufficient public housing stock which is appropriately designed and well located near specialised health and other services to meet the needs of people with special needs who need to access such services.

5.26 The Committee notes that while submissions from groups representing people with disabilities were mostly concerned with what appeared to be common problems of cost, location and access to the private rental market, many addressed the issue of the `proposed' government housing reforms:

Proposals to discontinue capital grants to the states under the Commonwealth/State Housing Agreement (CSHA) for public and community housing are dangerous and will have negative consequences for People Living With HIV/AIDS. Discontinuation of this grants scheme will reduce the capacity of the state and community housing sectors to supply a mix of housing options and increase the pressure on currently overburdened housing stock. [17]

Other special needs groups

5.27 Most of the special housing needs canvassed above appear to be shared by the aged. The Committee received about 15 submissions from groups concerned with the needs of the frail elderly. Other submissions pleaded against any cuts in Commonwealth funding for public housing and against the proposed reforms which would have replaced rebated rents in public housing with rent assistance. These groups included women's groups and youth groups. A few came from groups representing newly arrived immigrants. [18]

5.28 Single women with dependent children are one of the groups who experience the highest level of housing need (and of financial need) in our community. [19] As a result, they are very reliant on the security of tenure and low rents provided in the public housing sector. The Young Women's Resource Centre (YWRC) expressed concern that under the reform proposals:

public housing tenants living in inner-city areas will be faced with exorbitant rents that they cannot afford. This would push public housing tenants into areas that they could afford outer flung areas that often don't have adequate access to public transport and essential services. [20]

5.29 Along with other advocacy groups YWRC was acutely aware of the central role played by public housing in providing them with access to affordable and secure housing and called for all levels of government but especially on the Commonwealth to increase rather than cut funds for public housing in Australia.

5.30 Although the federal government is not currently pursuing the reforms mentioned above, some of the issues raised remain relevant. In particular, the Committee is convinced that the majority of low income people with special needs can only find appropriate and affordable housing in the public sector.

Crisis Accommodation and the Homeless

5.31 Other advocacy groups touched on problems encountered by those who need to access the services provided by the Supported Accommodation Assistance Program (SAAP) for their housing and who are therefore dependent on adequate funding of that program and of the Crisis Accommodation Program (CAP). Homeless people, women and children who are victims of domestic violence and young people who leave home and are without income are generally totally dependent on those programs. ACOSS told the Committee that:

The latest data available from the SAAP national data collection indicates that there are between 48,000 and 61,000 homeless people in Australia. Yet there has been no real growth in the baseline SAAP funding since 1994 even though in both the 1995-96 and 1996-97 financial years, the Commonwealth was obliged to allocate additional `once-off' funds to meet undeniable need. Despite this strong evidence that the base funding level is inadequate, the government continues to refuse to increase it. [21]

5.32 The WA Women's Services Network (WESNET) referred to SAAP National Data Collection (1997) which showed that about 42 per cent of SAAP clients were women and during the period the data was collected (July to December 1996), 36 per cent of the clients were escaping domestic violence. [22] WESNET also referred to the level of unmet demand for SAAP services:

During a two week period in November 1996, data was collected to identify the extent of such unmet demand. Nearly 8,000 requests which could not be met were reported by SAAP agencies. [23]

WESNET recognised that `a person may make more than one request and to more than one SAAP agency' but the figures do point to a worrying level of unmet demand.

5.33 As crucial as the provision of crisis accommodation is, it is at best only available for a definite period of time. Once their clients are deemed to be able to live on their own, SAAP workers have the task of finding them affordable longer term accommodation. Submissions from SAAP groups reveal that they experience great difficulties in achieving this. They are acutely aware of the interrelated links between different types of rental accommodation and the interaction of supply and demand in the housing market. The National Youth Coalition for Housing stated that:

First those young people who use crisis accommodation because they are unable to access other suitable housing take up scarce places within the SAAP program preventing young people in need from accessing these services. Second, those young people who have an initial need for supported accommodation and are unable to leave because of the tremendous difficulty they experience in accessing secure, affordable housing creating a bottleneck again preventing those wishing to access the program from receiving assistance. [24]

5.34 The SAAP National Data Collection project also attempted to assess what happens to clients after they leave crisis accommodation. The data showed that only 18.6 per cent were able to access public housing; 43.1 per cent went into private rental housing. [25] This very high proportion underlines the need for more support to be provided in assisting low income people to establish themselves in rental housing. This is especially the case for those setting out to live on their own for the first time. Some states, notably Queensland and Western Australia have bond assistance schemes and others offer assistance to meet housing establishment costs. [26] The Committee notes that WA's Tenants Advice Service expressed concern that Homeswest may abolish its bond assistance program. [27]

5.35 The effect of rental supply shortages on the cheaper end of the housing market was also put to the Committee. (Melbourne and Sydney are currently experiencing vacancy rates of less than 3 per cent and as low as 1 per cent):

The major shift in demand on the private rental market in Victoria from middle income earners unable to enter home ownership is a major change that has vacancy rates in decline to record lows and rents have increased, which has all served to force the most marginal into poverty and overcrowding, out of private rental altogether and into a cycle of emergency housing with friends and family and into inappropriate hotels and motels. [28]

5.36 Concern was also expressed by a Melbourne suburban SAAP service provider that although funding from the Commonwealth and the State government is on a 50/50 basis, they are under pressure to provide primarily for child protection clients and voluntary family breakdown clients (which they see as a `State' responsibility) at the expense of those over 16 years of age who are in accommodation crisis situations. [29]

5.37 One solution was seen as being increased income support or rent assistance payments for young people. Other submissions from youth groups have called for changes in the rules for priority housing allocation since it is currently almost impossible for young people to access public housing (except in Tasmania and South Australia). Women in crisis situations face very similar problems although they are more likely than young people to make the priority list. Even then they face the problem of waiting lists. [30] As in other aspects of housing policy addressed in this inquiry, the crucial issue for those groups remains the small supply of public housing stock relative to demand.

Recommendation 20: The Committee recommends better coordination between Supported Accommodation and Assistance Program (SAAP) and other community services to assist SAAP clients to move from short-term accommodation into long term accommodation either in public housing or the lower end of the private rental market.

5.38 Although the majority of submissions expressed strong support for governments to increase the public and community housing stock, there was an awareness that large public housing estates can increase the perception that they are `ghettos' of disadvantage. Most of the housing groups advocating on behalf of people with special needs expressed concern that as public housing was more targeted towards those who could not access the private market, it was being seen as housing for `people with disabilities', people who are ill, those on drugs or simply `disadvantaged' people and as such, was in danger of becoming stigmatised. [31]This issue has already been discussed by the Committee in Chapter 3. State governments are now more aware of the need to spread their public housing stock throughout a number of locations and avoid concentration of disadvantaged people in specific areas. The Committee commends the current moves to improve public housing estates.

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FOOTNOTES

[1] Submission No.292, p.4 (ATSIC).

[2] Submission No.292, p.2 (ATSIC).

[3] Submission No.81, (Aboriginal Housing Board of Victoria).

[4] Submission No133, p.4 (WA Government).

[5] Submission No.292, p.7 (ATSIC).

[6] Submission No.166, p.6 (NT Department of Housing and Local Government).

[7] Submission No. 292, (ATSIC); Submission No 27 (Centre for Aboriginal Economic Policy Research); Submission No.167, p.1 (NSW Aboriginal Housing Development Committee AHDC).

[8] Submission No.213, p.3 (ACT Shelter).

[9] Submission No.292, p.6 (ATSIC); Submission No.167, p.5 (NSW AHDC).

[10] Submissions No. 292, p.5 (ATSIC).

[11] Submission No.45, p.2 (The Australian Quadriplegic Association Ltd).

[12] Submission No.38, p.1 (Regional Victorian Rural Disability Association).

[13] Submission No.68 (Attendant Care Coalition Inc); Submission No.116. (Housing and Tenancy Rights for People with Disabilities).

[14] Submission No.201, (ACROD). This estimate includes higher locational costs.

[15] Submission No.110, p.2 (Paraquad).

[16] Submission No.198, p.10 (Aids Council of NSW: Bobby Goldsmith Foundation And People Living With HIV/AIDS).

[17] Submission No.257, p.4 (Australian Federation of AIDS Organisations).

[18] Submission No.114, (Somali Support Group Association Inc.), Submission No.152, (Department of Immigration and Muticultural Affairs).

[19] AIHW, Australia's Welfare, Services and Assistance 1995, AGPS, Canberra, 1995, pp.59-60.

[20] Submission No.28, p.1 (Young Women's Resource Centre, Zig Zag).

[21] Submission No.282, p.60 (ACOSS).

[22] Submission No.210, p.2 (WESNET).

[23] Ibid.

[24] Submission No.220, p.6 (National Youth Coalition for Housing).

[25] Submission No.210, p.2 (WESNET).

[26] Submission No.218, p.7 (Council for Homeless Persons Australia); Submission No.301, p.5 (Department of Public Works and Housing QLD).

[27] Submission No.245, p.4 (Tenants Advice Service, Inc).

[28] Transcript of Evidence, p.20 (Mr Nash).

[29] Submission No.5, p.1 (Waverley Emergency Adolescent Care Inc).

[30] Submission No.100, p.4 (Victorian Women's Refuge and Associated Domestic Violence Services); Submission No.69, p.2 (Council of Single Mothers and their Children).

[31] Submission No.116, p.6 (AMIDA); Submission No.69, p.2 (Council of Single Mothers and their Children).