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Indigenous Homelessness Report

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6. A SUMMARY OF THEMES AND ISSUES OF HOMELESSNESS AND INADEQUATE HOUSING

Theme One: Indigenous Culture

The historical dispossession of Indigenous people in Australia must be acknowledged as the source of continuing unresolved issues about the needs of Indigenous people as well as their place in contemporary society This position is a starting point for recognising the specific needs of the Victorian Indigenous community and, since this does not generally occur in policy and service responses, Indigenous communities are concerned about the continuing imposition of frameworks, definitions, policy development processes and implementation. 

Indigenous Culture is fundamental in every aspect of life: ‘We can’t forget who we are, but we should not keep having to explain Aboriginal culture to government authorities’. 

Throughout the consultation process the importance of extended family was emphasised strongly as being fundamental to the Aboriginal way of life. This was applied clearly and consistently to the response to homelessness: ‘It is our culture that we accommodate families’. However, this creates problems for government policy at present. For example, an Aboriginal organisation may see three families living in a household as acceptable, whereas government departments see this as ‘overcrowding’, i.e. different values. The view that, ‘the general housing authorities don’t understand extended families and the connectedness of families’, was widely held.

Many factors work to subtly undermine Indigenous culture. No serious provision is made for grandparents or relatives who provide care to children. One comment stated that:

 An aunt looking after the grandkids shouldn’t be punished because she’s looking after the grandkids. To understand the culture means you take into account these sorts of things. … Until they realise you have to deal with the culture that covers everything, there will be problems. They don’t see all the things in their life are part of their own culture but try to segment it out.  As an Aboriginal it’s a holistic thing.

Another implication about the importance of Aboriginal culture is that more Indigenous workers are needed to work with Indigenous people:

The issue is if you are an Indigenous worker, you can’t say, “No, that’s not my job.”  Some people say, “I know it’s not your job but as long as you get the next person to do it”, but a lot of people say, “On, you won’t help us, you are one of those people”.

Theme Two: Poverty, Income and Employment Issues

A major theme was the financial sustainability of families and communities. Apart from the broad level of poverty in Indigenous communities, there is the burden of observing family obligations and sharing income amongst family members and assisting family members when they need financial help. One comment was, ‘If you have a home, you will always have debt in the family’.

The requirement for bonds creates major problems for low income Aboriginal people:

In town yesterday there was a house for rent and I was trying to get it but they wanted three weeks rent as a bond and I could see this bloke couldn’t afford it so if he doesn’t go back to town, he’ll bludge around with someone in town, but can’t get the $200 to pay the bond and another $140 to pay the two weeks rent. He can’t find $400 or $500 and it’s pressuring our community.

Families and individuals who maintain groups and communities near traditional lands maintain links with their cultural roots but experience high rates of unemployment in country Victoria. As a result of financial crises rental arrears is a common problem. Another aspect of the rental arrears problem is that, as families get deeper into financial difficulty, Aboriginal organisations are put at risk. Tenants fall behind in rents, then there is pressure on the community organization to make sure the occupiers are making payments.

Theme Three: Complex Service Systems

The multiple layers of housing provision and support services are confusing and complex. As one worker said, ‘it is like playing chess’. The three levels of public housing, in terms of general stock, AHBV stock and Co-operative housing, present workers and consumers with a barrage of rules, regulations and inconsistencies which are not consumer-friendly.  The segmented waiting list created problems of access. The rules for the provision of general stock were considered by many to be rigid and not culturally sensitive. ‘Everyone is doing cultural awareness except housing’. With Aboriginal housing there was concern that housing allocation needs to be fair and objective. A confusing array of support services operated, of varying quality and resourcing. There was general agreement that the services were not adequate.

As Aboriginal communities struggle to maintain themselves, they find all kinds of financial and economic barriers. In other cases funding is defined for one purpose but the need is elsewhere. The problem is targeted funding on the basis of imposed definitions of need rather than locally determined needs. An example was given of a country town, X, where funding for education through direct assistance money, the ASPA programme, carried a requirement to spend 30% of the funds on parenting awareness programmes:

In X we don’t need to spend $2,000 on parenting awareness because we have parents already involved.  We spend 80% of our money on school excursions.  They made these rules for remote places and not X.  Let’s manage our money and let’s manage our people, but they say you have little boxes and they plug you in them. You have to be creative and talk to my parents and my fee will be $2,000 because we will do the parent awareness for them.  We will get $2,000 off them for the parenting awareness programme and pay for the kids’ camp.  We are going to go out there and diddle the system just to get something we need

Theme Four: Inadequate Housing Provision

There was unanimous agreement about the severe shortage of housing and this was in both the public and private sectors. Long waiting times exacerbated conditions of overcrowding.  Overcrowding is an issue even though it is acceptable and common for larger numbers of family members to co-reside in dwellings. Living with families in overcrowded conditions frequently results in breakdown and a subsequent transient lifestyle. Overcrowding can stretch family resources as ‘more people doesn’t mean greater prosperity’. One person reported that ‘people are frequently sleeping in living areas’ and another observed that ‘when ten people are living in a two bedroom house, this fuels interpersonal conflict’. A service provider referred to a household which included a total of 23 children.

Housing design is also part of the problem. It was explained that: ‘Houses for Indigenous are not appropriate, because Indigenous families are extended families. If houses were built for our needs we wouldn’t have these problems. Houses should have six bedrooms and large living areas. They should be insulated and have solar power’.  It was argued that organisations needed to give careful thought to the type of housing provided, rather than accepting the purchase of conventional housing stock.

A common concern is that houses are frequently unavailable in areas where people wish to live. Location is another major issue. This results in people moving to areas where they lack support from family and other networks and are also isolated from relevant services. It was observed that:

people can be forced to live where the housing stock is meaning they are further from town and with less access to employment, family and support services. This leads to marginalisation’ and ‘people sometimes move because they feel they have no choice. In fact the choice is a house or no house.

Overall, there is not sufficient affordable housing for Aboriginal families. For large family groups, the standard three-bedroom dwelling does not meet the needs of extended family members. In important locations there are often not sufficient houses. The importance of stable and secure housing applies to all groups in the community, including Aboriginal people. As was said:

People have to have a roof over your head and have something that belongs to you.  That’s what we have to instil because if you have that you can plug all the other resources into helping the family get stronger and resolving problems. 

Theme Five: Empowerment and disempowering of policies and practices

While the Indigenous community has developed an extensive network of self-help, community and housing cooperative organisations, and become more experienced and effective in political advocacy, it is still the case that many policies in combination discourage and disengage Indigenous people from active participation in housing. These policies may result in practices that in themselves create and maintain homelessness, yet the goals of public provision are to provide a safety net and access for vulnerable groups.

Many Aboriginal families live in public housing, housing provided through local cooperatives or housing provided through the AHBV. Evictions as a result of rent arrears are seen as a community problem rather than just an individual problem. Evictions have an impact on the person involved, their family members and on the support services. In the case of cooperative housing provision, rental arrears affect the financial capacity of cooperatives to maintain houses and extend programs, and some cooperatives are reluctant to evict tenants.

A lack of support services for tenants results in more tenancy problems. Many people entering rental housing have poor budgeting skills, little knowledge of home maintenance, lack of experience in payment of bills and they end up in crisis.  More service provision through Indigenous organizations was seen as the best option as ‘we only survive through our own services’.  People can be unprepared for the costs of establishing a house and setting it up with furniture and equipment. Another unexpected cost occurs when families accommodate their extended families and subsequently encounter liability for back rent.

The home purchasing program through ATSIC has also caused problems for some people. Although purchasers may have been able to save the required deposit, legal fees and rates, the other costs can make home ownership unsustainable and this is even in a scheme that has been designed to assist Indigenous clients. Poverty is an undermining factor. However, only a small number of families in Victoria have benefited in recent years.

Public housing applicants, under segment three, need to demonstrate that they have unsuccessfully attempted to rent on the private rental market. This is known as the Rent Market Test. When people have to make five approaches to three different real estate agents this creates extreme frustrations. The Rent Market Test is seen as cruelly disempowering. Some real estate agents refuse to participate in the process and, even when they do, many Indigenous people report that ‘real estate agents don’t make them feel good’. As the test was imposed on real estate agents without consultation, this has fuelled increased resentment from that sector. The test results in a high ‘drop-out’ rate for Indigenous people seeking public housing. 

The complex policies at a statewide level were considered by many to need review in order to be more responsive to the Indigenous community. This would require the abolition of some repressive requirements, a consistency in rules across regions, and increased flexibility and delegation at the local level. At the local level, communities seek input into policy decision-making as well as some autonomy in implementation to better accommodate specific needs.

Indigenous community organizations faced dilemmas and difficulties when they acted as landlords while at the same time provided other support and help to families in the community. 

Theme Six:  Racism and Discrimination

There was a high level of agreement that racism and discrimination are major factors in the lack of access by Aboriginal people to housing on the private rental market. The application of exclusion policies in the housing sector represents one aspect of systematic discrimination confronting many community members in employment, access to facilities and general life opportunities. One participant described the town where she lives as ‘redneck’. Comments such as, ‘attitudes are a big problem. As soon as people find out you are Aboriginal their attitude changes’, were reported frequently. Also, Aboriginal families who have obtained satisfactory housing, have sometimes been made to feel so uncomfortable that they leave. Small incidents are blown up into major issues by neighbours, and this is another way that racism and discrimination operates.

The racism that pervades everyday life has a subsequent impact on people’s confidence in applying for housing. People feel ‘put down’ too often and don’t know how to deal with it. As one person reflected: ‘As Kooris, we need to believe we can reach goals’.

Indigenous people in employment face similar barriers to those on benefits. People who relocate to take up new positions are sometimes forced to leave the job and the locality because of being rejected for housing. It was generally considered that those with lighter skin had the best chance of obtaining housing. One worker commented that: ‘The partner with the fair skin is sent to find the house’. Racist value judgments are common: ‘As soon as they see a black face, they are told the place is not available. The next thing they see is a “for rent” notice’.

Theme Seven: Rights and Entitlements

An adequate response to Indigenous homelessness and inadequate housing should not just focus ‘material’ provision but extend to a broader agenda of social justice and human rights. Arguably, for people who have been subjected to dispossession, dislocation and discrimination, the introduction of culturally appropriate policies and practices, developed and implemented by the Indigenous community, is an important premise for policy. As one person said: ‘we don’t always want to be the victim. We want a fair go. No one will let us out of the box. We need to get away from the welfare model to a rights-based model’.

Reflection

There are a range of complexities in the themes and issues that require further exploration. For example, the polarities between recognising the place of family in supporting homeless people, while overcoming the serious problems caused by overcrowding, requires a carefully negotiated response.  Similarly, the need for adequate public housing provision, and specifically Aboriginal housing provision, needs to be addressed while not locking the community into welfarism at the expense of economic and social independence.

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