Home is a tent

By Kath Gannaway
SHOWER packs and tents are being handed out as more and more people find themselves without a roof over their heads in the Shire of Yarra Ranges.
It’s the sobering reality, perhaps at the extreme end, of what it means to become homeless as an already critical shortage of rental accommodation gets even worse.
The tent “solution” emerged as part of a Housing Affordability Forum held in Yarra Junction on 28 April.
The forum also identified a changing demographic among Upper Yarra residents struggling to find shelter.
Families are emerging as an increasingly vulnerable group in the accommodation crisis in Upper Yarra.
The forum hosted by The Upper Yarra Community Building Initiative (CBI) pulled together government and community organisations at the coalface of housing issues in the region.
“A lot of needs came out of the day but clearly the biggest thing was the shift in the last six months from welfare agencies who, in the past, have dealt mostly with single men and are now saying they are now dealing more and more with families,” said Millgrove minister Luke Whiteside who is one of the forum coordinators.
The Reverend Whiteside said the effect of rising interest rates and general increases in the cost of living meant working families were increasingly part of the mix of families who can no longer meet mortgage payments or rents.
He told of one family’s experience after being put out of their rented house when the owner put it on the market.
Unable to find anywhere to rent they ended up camping out for four weeks.
They were moved from their camping spot to a caravan park before being moved on to two other short-term emergency accommodation places in the area.
“In the end they had to move away from the area to Tasmania where they were able to get a house through a family member.”
Caravan parks which in the past have provided an accessible option for low-income earners and for emergency accommodation are no longer playing that role, and Rev Whiteside said with unpowered sites at $90 a week, even that is not affordable.
In the eastern metro area 4485 families are waiting for public housing, an increase of 101 families, or 2.3 per cent, since December 2007.
Rev Whiteside said, however, that Yarra Ranges is under represented in the provision of public housing.
The shire had a total of 514 public housing units and 96 community managed units according to housing department figures as at April last year.
Of those 40 public housing units and four community housing units are in Upper Yarra townships.
When a comparison is made on a population basis state-wide a more realistic figure would be about 2000 housing units.
“It came out on Monday that we only have stock of 5500 houses in the eastern metro area, but there are 4500 on the waiting list,” Rev Whiteside said.
“That means for every five houses there are four people waiting for them. How much turnover do they think there is.”
Rev Whiteside said he was, however, encouraged that 30 people had participated in the forum and that a new group had been formed to tackle the problem.
He said families going through stress should contact Anchor Community Care in Lilydale on 9760 6400 and to put their name down on the public housing list.
He said another positive thing was the $510million in last year’s State Budget for housing under which 86 units of housing was planned over the next three to four years.