HOMELESSNESS -- GREED AND THE OLYMPICS The following article was published in "The Guardian", newspaper of the Communist Party of Australia in its issue of Wednesday, June 28th, 2000. Contact address: 65 Campbell Street, Surry Hills. Sydney. 2010 Australia. Phone: (612) 9212 6855 Fax: (612) 9281 5795. CPA Central Committee: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> "The Guardian": <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Webpage: http://www.cpa.org.au> Subscription rates on request. ****************************** Sydney's homeless numbers are beginning to jump as rents climb and greedy landlords evict tenants in the runup to the Olympics. The imposition of the GST will further aggravate the situation as rents are pushed up even more. Sydney rents are already running at an average of $225 per week which is up to a half of the take home pay of many low income wage earners. by Magda Hansson and Kerry Ans Another factor pushing up rents is the inflow of financial capital looking for a "safe" and profitable investment in Australia. With Sydney becoming a financial centre in the Pacific, multi-national financial institutions are now locating here. The so-called "Asian economic crisis" has meant a flight of capital from that region and overseas companies and their wealthy executives are moving in. These factors have contributed to a crisis in the availability of low rental accommodation even though many buildings which were previously factories and warehouses have been renovated as Australia's manufacturing industries close down. Older home units and boarding houses have also been bought up for investment purposes. Many inner city suburbs have seen radical changes in their housing stock. Investment companies like In-West Holdings, which had invested in low budget boarding house type accommodation, are now getting out of this increasingly shaky "market". The imposition of the GST will increase their costs but it will be virtually impossible for these investors to raise the rents for the clientele they now cater for. Tent city Welfare agencies are finding it impossible to cope with the steady rise in calls for help. In response to this tragic situation, welfare groups are planning the erection of tent cities for the many thousands of Sydney homeless. One of the suggested sites is a park in Ashfield on the main route to the big Olympic venues at Homebush Bay. While the government is funding landlords to provide some beds in low cost accommodation welfare agencies maintain that it is not enough. Planned Homelessness Poverty and homelessness do not "just happen". They are the result of deliberate policies that benefit one group -- those that have capital and access to it, against another group -- those that do not. The private rental market does not want to and cannot provide for the housing needs of the poor. The mentally ill and disadvantaged are being particularly hard hit. Many were previously secure in an institution but were forced out when governments closed the institutions declaring that they were better cared for in the community. As their existing low-rent accommodation closes the only alternative is the street. Let them eat cake! With the supreme arrogance of one who is out of touch with the real world, the Treasurer, Peter Costello, says that people who rent can afford a rise in rents. The government has refused to exempt caravan park and boarding house tenants from paying GST on their residential rents and the estimated increase to ordinary renters has more than doubled to 4.7 percent. This represents an increase of $11 on the median Sydney rent of $225 per week. The residents of caravan parks and boarding houses are some of the most disadvantaged and marginalised persons in our society. Over 50 percent rely on social security for their sole income support. Many boarding houses are de facto institutional care facilities for the mentally ill that the government no longer sees fit to care for and protect. Legally, they have little tenure on their meagre accommodation, as the Residential Tenancies Act does not cover them. NSW State parliament rejected a bill eight years ago that would have rectified this situation, capitulating to pressures from the hotel and motel industry. Welfare for landlords While rejecting the demands of some National Party MPs to scrap the tax for the residents of caravan parks and boarding houses, they did agree to the Democrats proposal to increase rent assistance by 10 per cent. This is in keeping with the ideology of both the Democrats and the Liberal Party. What they are in effect doing is paying over one and a half billion dollars each year into the very deep pockets of private landlords as the rent assistance will be paid straight to landlords in increased rent. People will still struggle to pay their increased rents but the pain is eased for their landlord. Meanwhile, the queue for public housing gets longer. The effect is that rents remain high. But it is not tenants that this government wants to protect. Their priority is with the owners of property. This gigantic subsidy to private landlords should be put into low rental public housing stock. It has come from public money in the first place. The private rental market would then be forced to compete in the provision of accommodation and rents would be reduced. All tenants, both public and private, would benefit. ************************************************************************** -- Leftlink - Australia's Broad Left Mailing List mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.alexia.net.au/~www/mhutton/index.html Sponsored by Melbourne's New International Bookshop Subscribe: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?Body=subscribe%20leftlink Unsubscribe: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?Body=unsubscribe%20leftlink
LL:ART: HOMELESSNESS -- GREED AND THE OLYMPICS
Communist Party of Australia Wed, 28 Jun 2000 00:56:24 -0700
