Resource / Imagining housing as a human right
We’ve all heard stories in the media, from friends and family about the struggles to find housing that is adequate, accessible, affordable and suitable for the changing climate. And we know that cost of living challenges and rate rises are making what should be a basic need – a roof over one’s head – ever harder to secure. Housing should be a right, something that is available to all and our homes should meet our diverse needs.
We think members of our community know what a fairer, more caring, equitable and affordable housing system could look and feel like. So we asked to hear your stories and ideas. Whether you’re a tenant in public housing that offers you great security of tenure, a wannabe homeowner searching for a house you can afford in a community you love, a person renting on the private market, a property investor, a person seeking secure housing or someone who has experienced something “different” and “better” that you think might inspire a different way of “doing housing” in our community and our nation, thank you for sharing your unique and valuable perspective.
Now that our housing consultation has closed, stay tuned for WHGNE’s community informed Housing Policy Position Paper.
Read more of our work advocating for a fair, caring and equitable housing system
Housing is a basic human right.
And yet, as Homelessness Week rolls around again this week, we’re made acutely aware of the fact that this is a right that remains unmet and unfulfilled for large – and ever-growing – numbers of people in our communities.
Read more here.
The HOUSING AUSTRALIA FUTURE FUND, is slated to support the construction of 20,000 new social housing dwellings – 4000 of which will be allocated to women and children impacted by family and domestic violence and older women at risk of homelessness – as well as building 10,000 new “affordable housing dwellings, including for frontline workers.”
These are worthy plans, and we’ll be watching and advocating to ensure regional and rural communities like ours are explicitly included in the conversation and the unfolding of these plans. However, the Future Fund is just the beginning when it comes to addressing the housing crisis.
We already know that other measures are urgently needed to transform housing from “profit-creating asset” to universally accessible human right and basic service.
Read more here
Domestic and family violence makes a woman’s home the least safe place she can be. But house price and rental inflation is making finding somewhere new to live so difficult, that many women fleeing violence return to perpetrators and the risk of violence. Or into homelessness.
This is happening in our very own communities, right now.
Read more here.
This directory is designed to support workers in the community sector to have a conversation with women to identify issues and challenges that reduce their capacity to manage their money well.
Read more here.
Women’s Health Goulburn North East (WHGNE) has responded to the release of a new study into women’s access to housing outside the capital cities by urging governments to consider the gendered factors driving homelessness in regional areas and provide greater funding for affordable regional housing.
Read more here.