Public and community housing moves to the outer suburbs

Then we have the ‘salt and pepper’ strategy…. No matter how often one complains to the landlord (ACT Government), of the behaviour of their tenants, the landlord (ACT Government) ignores the complaints and NOTHING is done. Apart from the body corporate (rate payers) having to expend money to install CCTV cameras INSIDE the complex.

The government certainly contributes to the perception that public housing is undesirable.

Coombs has several public housing complexes while Wright did not initially have any.

When there is such a discrepancy in public housing between two new suburbs that are adjacent to each other it is not surprising that people gain the impression that public tenants were being dumped in Coombs while Wright was intended to be more “up-market”.

Either that or the people who designed the suburbs are monumentally incompetent and should be reassigned to a role more suited to their skill level.

Yes, now there is a public housing complex planned for Wright, but this was added in after the public observations about the discrepancy. And yes I presume both suburbs have individual public housing properties scattered across them in a true “salt and pepper” approach, unlike the “sauce bottle glob” approach of public housing complexes.

Discussions about public housing invariably attract “bleeding heart liberals”, who believe it should be anywhere and everywhere, and stringent critics, who’d prefer to see it nowhere and certainly nowhere near them. Let’s lay day down a few rational thoughts and, in so doing, identify the real culprit which, as so often, is the ACT Government.

I grew up in public housing as did my wife. This was at a time when public housing was available to all, with a reasonable expectation that many tenants at some stage would buy their homes. In these times, there was nothing frightening or threatening about the public housing demographic. Additionally, being poor was not a matter of choice but rather resulted from the enforced absence of opportunity.

What’s happened since? Welfare, that’s what. Welfare was intended as a buffer for the down times and a hand up to seek better times. Unfortunately, from around the 1970s, welfare recipients began to be treated as the “golden child”, seemingly incapable of any wrong, whatever the crime, domestic abuse, alcoholism and drug addiction figures told us. You could say this has been the result of circumstance, but circumstances were made to be dealt with.

This situation has flowed through to public (now welfare) housing. Once the gold standard, it has degenerated into the blot nobody wants on their landscape. These days, in fact, if there’s public housing near you, your property is likely to be valued somewhat lower than its true worth. Why? In the ACT it’s because our long-term government treats public housing tenants as saints, appearing not to place any noticeable obligations on them and allowing their homes to become slums. As with all things, this happens when government moves from administrative pragmatism to ideology. Move this tired, hubristic government on!

Nothing wrong with public housing in the outer suburbs. It just has to be matched with support services, community facilities, entertainment options and public transport.

Unfortunately Mr Barr has been removing these much needed things from the outer burbs. What an un Labor leader Mr Barr is.