public housing in this country

[greg taylor]

hi there every one hope you have an awesome day, my name is greg, now i was homeless for a long time, living on the streets, and sleeping where ever i could find some where safe, now what really frustrates me is i was watching a current affair last night, and there was one lady who was sleeping in her car, with nowhere to go but in her car, and to make tghings worse she needs a kidney transplant , now what really gets me with this current government, state and federal, is why do people who are desperate to find shelter, have to wait 10-15 yrs just to get a house or a roof over there head, when i know for a fact that we have empty houses vacant yet this government tell us we have nothing, did anyone else see this story please can i ask everyone to contact or right to there local member and ask what are they doing or going to do to solve this crisis we have thanks greg

[Free]

Bureaucrats mate, it's a tiered system where one hand doesn't know what the other is doing. There are singles in 3 bedroom houses, and families in 1 bed apartments. People on very large incomes, still living in public housing when they just shouldn't be.

[CheckingIn]

Where I am if you qualify for 'emergency housing' they give you a few areas to choose from where houses are available ,,BUT,,,you have take the first house offered or go back on the waiting list..
Qualifying for emergency housing is akin to ripping your own arm off....especially if you have children...

First you to prove you have income (centrelink etc) then bank account details....rental history and reason for emergency assistance THEN apply for every available unit/house in the area and be knocked back,,,,and supply those knock backs...BUT they never tell you that all in one go.....

They tell you day by day etc so you can be on the streets long enough to lose everything BEFORE they offer you the unit/house you HAVE to accept which may be 500km's from where you live...(but you still have to go and inspect and reply within the week)

WORSE is,,if you are a single parent they include child support as INCOME whether you receive it or not....so that puts you into a higher income bracket even if they know you don't get it...
Child Support Agency works out what the partner should be paying,,,,,and all that is sent to Centrelink and Housing.....whether you get it or not....
Both Departments tell me they keep that going incase my ex pays a lump sum,,,that way I won't get a bill...(but if he hasn't paid in years and owes over $30,000 I doubt he will pay a lump sum anytime soon)

We probably have about 50 to 100 houses vacant here but we have a few thousand on the waiting list....Last time I checked the waiting time was 12years.....

Check

[sweetwater]

I can not believe how many empty houses there is just sitting around but what can we do? I now live in private housing and I'm glad of that now as I feel free from all that waiting. If we were on their emergency list I'd still be waiting because the chances of a two bedroom unit with wheelchair access that they aproved my daughter and I for could take a year or more.

At least my homeless problems has given me time to rethink a lot of things including family and friends, who I now have little to do with. My health was getting very bad for awhile and it's still not the best but I'm getting better at least mentally anyway. What it has made me realise is that, we in charge of our own destiny not the government. It not now or will it ever be. Life is for the livinng. So we need to stop sitting on waiting list. WE HAVE TO GET OUT THERE AND MAKE THINGS HAPPEN!

[CheckingIn]

Does anyone think of the houses available compared to the ppl waiting?

There may be vacant houses but there is over 1,000 ppl waiting for them..

Kellie

[CheckingIn]

When my daughter got a house in Wagga I went to visit her,,,
there were about 9 empty houses in the street.....
all ruined and fooked up,,,,,trashed to high hell.....
No matter how much rebuilding they did "a$$sholes" in the street kept breaking everything...
Those houses are still empty as far as I know....comission houses.....because as fast as they fix them up,,,,,,a$$holes keep ruining them....

Maybe we need to talk more to ppl who allow this shit to go on...

Kellie