HOUSING STRESS AND THE LACK OF URGENCY

VERY INTERESTING READING IN LAUNCESTON!

Glenorchy deputy mayor Sue Hickey says there is not enough urgency to house Tasmania’s homeless population, as Homes Tasmania releases its draft housing strategy. 

Councils have been invited to weigh in on Homes Tasmania’s draft housing strategy. ................... Glenorchy Council officers said the plan lacked detail, including on exactly how it would address the housing need for women and children. Ms Hickey said that wasn’t the only thing missing. ................... “It had all these lovely pretty photos but it didn’t have any of the realities … It’s a very professional document, but it doesn’t have a real sense of urgency,” Ms Hickey said. ................... “We need to acknowledge we haven’t got housing right. ................... “It’s not just about building houses but repairing and maintaining stock.” ................... Glenorchy City Council deputy mayor Sue Hickey. Picture: Richard Jupe ................... Ms Hickey said she hadn’t noticed an improvement to Hobart’s housing and homelessness problem. ................... “The problems existed for a decade, but it hit its peak in 2018 when we had the tent city at the showgrounds,” she said. ................... “I was a bit disappointed since 2018 there hasn’t been this collective momentum to keep the government to account on its social responsibility. “I walk around sometimes in the city early in the morning and there are people sleeping on the streets, more than I’ve ever seen. They’re mainly young people.” ................... Ms Hickey said Tasmania was the only state which didn’t have a code blue policy, which provides homeless people with access to overnight accommodation during extreme weather events. ................... “We have plenty of community spaces which could be activated quickly in the event of emergency weather,” Ms Hickey said. “Local government’s more than happy to work with state government but it can’t do it alone.” ................... A Home Tasmania spokesperson said the priority was to build more homes, which wasn’t dependent on the strategy. ................... “Homes Tasmania’s priority is to continue to deliver housing opportunities that meet the diverse needs of Tasmanians, including immediate shelter for people sleeping rough through to assistance for people to make home ownership a reality,” they said. ................... Revealed: How wealthy Tassie Airbnb owners really are “Through Homes Tasmania, the Tasmanian Government is developing a 20-year Housing Strategy to improve the sustainability of our entire housing system, including the builds we already have in train. ................... “The draft Strategy aims to create a more equitable housing system for all Tasmanians and is currently open for consultation. This is the second round of consultation which follows extensive consultation on a discussion paper in late 2022.” [??]

COMMENT: On the evidence thus far, HOMES TASMANIA appears to be seeking an outcome which is analogous to Ronald Regan’s STATUS QUOI – “You know the status quo is Latin for the mess we are in” – with a band-aid here, a stitch there and a patch over there. What it presents as solution options have been formulated in the dark well away from any deliberative critical discourse with ‘the community’ where the expertise actually is! 

 This call for COMMUNITY INPUT fails the credibility test, and the PUBtest too, in that it essentially is going on behind doors in order that the CHERRYpicking in the service of status quoism can go on without being exposed to anything like an incisive critical deliberations that might well go on in an open discourse. 

Nothing is impossible, but no matter how fast you run, catching a mirage is an impossibility. 

Some quotes to keep in mind: 

•... “We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.” … Albert Einstein 

•...  “If you want to go quickly, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.” … African Proverb 

•...  "There is no power for change greater than a community discovering what it cares about." … Margaret J. Wheatley 

•...  “Evil originates not in the absence of guilt; but in our effort to escape it.” ... Shannon L. Alder •

•... “If you tell the truth, you don't have to remember anything”. … Mark Twain