Shelter to Close it doors as letter requesting more rentals goes out.

Salt Care - follow link to see their services 

I received the sad news that our local homeless shelter needs to close it's doors on Sunday 16 October. After 5 years of looking after over 800 families' men and women, which resulted in 16,000 beds. Salt Ministeries have worked tirelessly over the 5 years and have asked State and Federal Government to give some financial support to keep the doors open. Their calls have fallen on deaf ears and this vital service is no longer. 

Fast forward almost one month and our amazing community has worked tirelessly to support Salt Care. The local Ex Servo's (servicemen and women) donated $40,000 and the Councilor's came together to unanimously support $20,000 from the Mayoral Relief Fund. This allowed the shelter to reopen for a few months but doesn't go near the $260,000 that's needed annually - its unsustainable funding that will run out in March next year.

 My Greens colleagues in the NSW State Parliament helped apply some pressure to Minister Natasha Maclaren-Jones - Thanks Jenny Leong and Cate Faerhmann for your assistance. The Minister reached out to Salt Care and she asked for a fortnight to try and find some funding. It's almost three hours' drive from Nowra to Macquarie Street and instead of an online meeting the Minister insisted that Salt Care travel to see her - almost 6 hours of travel for not much purpose shows very little respect for the valuable time of Salts's volunteers.

A fortnight passed and the second meeting came around - going into the meeting feeling hopeful that two weeks had maybe produced results. There was no sign of the minister and not even the same bureaucrats in the meeting. 

Salt Care where disappointed but not really surprised, as this corrupt NSW Liberal Government continue to undervalue caring for people. What's diabolical about this situation is that the government is winding down to the Xmas period and an election, could have found some funds to keep this vital service open and they could have found the funds from monies that haven't been spent yet or from the budget allowance for people who qualify for emergency nights.

The emergency monies are sometimes held back IF the provider doesn't think there is a viable housing option ahead - that ludicrous position means that the Shelter cannot get a person into their care and take the time needed to work with them to understand what wrap around supports they need.

This will be a big issue for the South Coast in the coming State Election .

Housing Crisis Deepens Future Uncertain

 

Barely a week goes by without numerous contacts from people just looking for somewhere affordable to live. Almost every time my answer is the same - I'm so sorry, I wish I could help, have you tried...

The definition of affordable housing is in practical terms where you don't have to pay out more than 30% of your income to keep a roof over your head. Anything over that affordable line means you are in housing stress of some sort and it's a rare day indeed to meet someone who is anywhere near that 30%.

The cruelest thing is something could have been done long before we reached this crisis point. Governments in Australia have chosen to let the so called 'free market' decide on the cost of rent. Support for tax breaks for investment properties means that wealth is accumulating faster for those who could afford to buy into the property market and continues to squeeze people out. Successive governments have taken the popular way out and kept the tax breaks in place while reducing the spend on public housing.

 The Liberals in NSW took this one step further and transferred a huge percentage of the public housing stock to not-for-profit housing groups - here in the Shoalhaven those properties were mostly transferred to Southern Cross Housing. Some of the home transferred were not fit for people to live in and the measly budget that the Government supplied meant that fix ups are actually a waste of money - when what we need is new fit for purpose housing. Thats a band wagon I have been on for years and I can't tell you how many ministers I have handed a briefing document too outlining how redeveloping some of Nowra's worst homes would be a win for the government, a win for the people and a win for business! All responses were happy lip service and no real action.

I recently brought a Mayoral Minute to the table to try and explore some ways that council could possibly raise revenue for a housing fund that could assist with building more homes. 

This is the recommendation that had majority support but not all councilors voted for it.

That Council:

1.    Receives a report from staff in a timely manner on potential proactive actions that can be taken to influence the availability of existing housing and increase the amount of affordable housing available in Shoalhaven, that specifically considers the following opportunities/potential Council actions:

a.    Special rate variation (SRV) to create an affordable housing fund.

Note: including how relevant Short Term Rental Accommodation (STRA) properties could be identified; options to create a specific rating category for STRA properties and the associated administrative process, including any legislative impediments, for the movement of relevant properties; the processes required to establish and administer the SRV; and the creation of a restricted reserve account where all funds raised through the SRV are to be used for the purpose of generating additional perpetual affordable housing in Shoalhaven.

b.    Land use planning options to better manage the amount of STRA available within Shoalhaven and its use/operation.

Note: including the potential for mapping and/or other provisions in Councils Local Environmental Plan and other planning documents to prohibit, cap/limit or allow the continuation of STRA in Shoalhaven.

c.    Run a campaign to reach non-resident ratepayers and STRA owners to urge them to consider renting their dwellings longer term to contribute to the local rental accommodation market and assist in the provision of additional much needed affordable housing opportunities.

Note: including all possible practical and cost-effective ways of reaching relevant owners, such as direct mail outs, and the potential associated costs.

2.    Considers the potential impact of any actions that are ultimately pursued in this regard on the visitor economy of the City (including research if necessary) and achieve a supportable balanced outcome, if possible, for the future.

Once the minute was made public, it drew some negative points of view as would be expected, but overwhelmingly people have been supportive and see it as a positive way to try and do something.

Targeting the residents who provide short term accommodation is to try and disincentivize a market that has turned a home into a business and partially contributed to the squeeze that is currently being felt.

I doubt this will yield any fruit, but we have to try, not unlike the frustrated Mayor of Dorset in Tasmania who did something similar.

There is no quick fix to the housing crisis, and it needs all three levels of government rowing in the same direction, right now it feels like I am a professional hamster and the other levels of government have stuck the oars in the wheel.

 

WAMINDA - You need to meet these fantastic women

Its about time you met Waminda - based on the South Coast for over 30 years they are an Aboriginal womens helath and welface organisation. Deeply respected by many for the fantastic work they do across so many spheres. Last week I experience one of the cultural immersion days that they offer and it was deeply impactful and I highly recommend this day for all who want to be better allies. One of the programs that Waminda are working hard to get funding and a home for right now is the Birthing on Country Program, which supports Aboriginal women through the process of pregnancy, birth and early years , thorugh a wholistic and wrap around service point of view. Waminda have worked hard at this program where it has been recognised as a high standard model of care for women. Dont take my word for it though, go see for your self at the Waminda website. During the recent federal election it was great to see that there were pledges of financial support for Waminda's program and the clock is ticking to find some land or a building to repupose for the birthing and services home. I brought to council a Mayoral Minute pledging support for the project to allow for our startegic planning staff to work with Waminda to try and find land and to reach out to landholders jointly to see if we can push for a better outcome. One such landholder in Nowra is Woolworths of Fabcott Pty Ltd who own a number of useful parcels of land, which have been landbanked for no real puprose for many years now. Whats seriously annoying is that Fabcott dont reply to our letters asking for their consideration for a sale. So that makes me wonder - which supperannuation companies, what locals, or any other investor live in the Shoalhaven and would be prepared to contact them and get them to understand that instead of making grand statements they can actually do something ral and sell their land for a grand purpose. Please check out Wamindas webiste

Life long learning - keeping up with the politics

I love being a life long learner. Yesterday I got a great lesson on TERF's.

 ( Wait the explanation is coming if you too were unfamiliar with the term. )

This came about as I got asked "would I let radical feminists remain in the party if they disagreed with TRANS rights ? "

It was in a forum situation with a limited time to respond. I am not transphobic. I am familiar with and empathetic to those  compelled to undertake gender re-orientation. This takes courage and determination. I celebrate the diversity of humanity, and I believe that my party is a party of inclusion. But expelling people from the party for their views on trans politics: now that threw me a very unexpected curved ball.

 I had blundered into unfamiliar territory. I'm grateful for the first aid that was administered as members of The Greens quickly leapt in to give me a rapid introduction about the TERF Wars!! Thanks to Evan, Jordanna, and Erin my eyes were firmly opened by the end of the day. 

TERF (/ˈtɜːrf/) is an acronym for trans-exclusionary radical feminist. First recorded in 2008,^[1] the term originally applied to the minority^[2] of feminists espousing sentiments that other feminists considered transphobic, such as the rejection of the assertion that trans women are women, the exclusion of trans women from women's spaces, and opposition to transgender rights legislation. The meaning has since expanded to refer more broadly to people with trans-exclusionary views who may have no involvement with radical feminism. Wikipedia

Whilst dealing with extreme natural disasters in my community for the past three years I had missed that our trans people were suffering at the hands of an organised movement wanting to exclude them. 

Now that I have been educated into what a TERF really is - my answer would be unequivocally NO.  I wouldn't support racists, or homophobes, or disability discriminators to take away humans rights from minority groups. I would not support the suppression of trans rights in the Greens by anyone.

When we uphold human rights and support people, we will end up with a much better party.

Huskisson Church - A New Chapter?

 Today was a monumental milestone in the campaign to Save the Huskisson Church - today the developer formally withdrew their Planning Proposal! The happy sounds could be heard across the bay, from this small group of happy locals gathered at the site. Check out their joy! Congratulations to all - so many stalwarts that have turned up week in week out to keep the profile of this campaign in the communities hearts and minds.

The Huskisson Heritage Association has been campaigning long and hard for the preservation of the little Blackett Church at Huskisson. Alongside the Jerrinja Land Council have been battling to preserve Aboriginal Graves that have also been noted on the site including that of King Bud Billy.

Saving it from what? I hear some say, but seriously most people around here know the story of the take over of the church site by the local publican and the consortium who want to build a hotel and conference center on what is considered by the locals as a precious piece of land.

I'm not going to repeat the long story of the campaign you can find out more about that by following the links provided below.

With the change of Council there has been a majority change of attitude towards what should be done at this beautiful site and the Greens on Council certainly haven't supported the direction the developer was taking.

Earlier this year with our Labor Colleagues we Greens said no to scraping the ground for graves - we believe the stories of the elders and value the oral history of the Jerrinja people. We saw for our own eyes the scar on the tree, and we have read the shared history of the site.

Today the news that the developer has withdrawn the planning proposal is a relief and mostly closes the current chapter. It also leave us wonder what the future will be - who actually owns the land - and could it be bought by the Aboriginal Land and Sea Corporation?

That's the thing with chnaging chapters - there are more parts of the story yet to write - but for now this is a win for the community and hopefully a signal for good things to come.

More reading see these links.

Huskisson Heritage Association

Save Husky Church Facebook Page 

The New Bush Telegraph 

Shoalhaven Council Planning Proposal Page 

Jerrinja Land Council Facebook Page 

Meanwhile Use of Land - an interim step to assist with housing shortages?

 I have been pursuing the issue of affordable housing pretty much for the entire time I've been elected to Shoalhaven City Council ( 14 years at time of writing ) - every angle that I can think of!

A recent meeting with another group of NSW State Gov bureaucrat's and I still feel like a hamster on the wheel!

                                                                Photo by Silje Roseneng on Unsplash

The Victorian government introduced meanwhile use in their state - and I think it could be a game changer in NSW for the housing continuum. 

So meanwhile use looks at land or buildings held by government for a future reason to be used today for housing in a temporary way. The Shoalhaven land that came immediately to mind was that owned by Transport for NSW in road corridors. Land that already has buried infrastructure like water, power and communications and could quickly support portable homes that can be removed when its time for the land to be used for the purpose its been held for- like highway upgrades.

Meanwhile use gives us immediate access to land while we move to a longer term solution. One of the long term solutions I have been pushing for in the Shoalhaven is the redevelopment of our existing social housing stock. Like many places the housing stock owned by the NSW Gov is in poor condition. Many of the homes around Nowra are asbestos with no insulation, poor condition and on larger blocks of land that could be amalgamated into medium density sites. Medium density in the Shoalhaven looks more like 3//4/5 story small apartment blocks rather than larger towers that our city counterparts might experience. These older homes were built in the late 60's and early 70s- we also have a number of old style Defence Housing of a similar vintage.

Once the meanwhile use has occurred it drives the urgency to solve the future of those living in the zone. 

I recall a conversation with then Minister for Water, Property and Housing Melinda Pavey who found the prospect of meanwhile use so abhorrent that I was taken aback with the vehemence of her verbal response which of course was followed up with a thanks,  no thanks letter!

In 2021 I though we were making some headway on meanwhile use as the NSW Government had considered Wollongong as a pilot place and were looking to write up a position paper on guidelines. Of course the whole thing was shelved with a change in premier and its back to badgering for some redevelopment of the housing stock.

The recalcitrance of the State Gov to deal with improved social housing conditions for the Shoalhaven is just appalling - it such a win on so many levels - but most importantly it would be a win for our people. 

A modest 10 year plan would make a huge difference for our people - it could reduce the costs to run the households, improve the residents health and wellbeing outcomes and reduce carbon pollution by integrating renewable energy. As we start to move into another election period we need to keep the heat on for housing investment for the Shoalhaven and beyond.

More Reading:

Unlocking public assets will help meet housing needs 

Repairing Australia's Affordable Housing Crisis 

Finding community amidst NSW climate and housing emergencies.

The Libs just hate being called out !

This week the IPCC released their current reports - that's a whole other post also - the release of the report has been rightfully overshadowed by the current climate change driven catastrophe that has been unfolding in SE Qld and NSW with a slow moving storm front that has been causing havoc with some of the worst recorded floods in Northern NSW.

Meanwhile in the Shoalhaven preparations are under way for  when the slow moving storm hit's the coast. Getting storm prepared is one of those things we do on a regular basis in the Shoalhaven as we have a number of really low lying communities that experience flooding. 

Shoalhaven Heads is one such community at the mouth of the Shoalhaven River, where an intermittently opening and closing barrier dune system exists. Over many decades the community, State Government Agencies and Council have developed an Entrance Management Plan. These plans are created with science as the basis of good decision making as opening an entrance is a fraught process. Open too early and a place could be inundated with ocean water, or there might not be the perfect confluence of outgoing tide and flood waters to move the maximum amount of sand. The State Government are the ultimate responsibility, council has a role to play being the agent on the ground and the level of government closest to the people.

Flood times create a lot of anxiety and the role of civic leaders is to help our community through the hard times - not to super pump anxiety and make them feel like flood planning isn't happening as it should.

Enter one of our local members, who seemed to think the exact opposite. What's even more disappointing about this members actions, is that he used to be on Council and knows exactly the parameters of the entrance management plans - so there is zero excuse for these nonsense actions at a time when our community need us.

The local member then proceeded to try and use a narrative that has been used against his Federal Leader, that somehow I was missing in action, not doing what was supposed to , he declares to the world that I need to 'get a grip', I think sir the opposite is true, you need to get a grip on what leadership is meant to do during times of crisis and not just run unhelpful political interference.

The irony isn't lost on me for the leaders that have been missing in action are the currently elected Liberal Party.

*Missing in action on climate change ( they say they are acting but its just not enough)

*Missing in action for real leadership on how our state will manage the impacts we are now seeing from a changing climate

*Missing in action on managing coastal communities with sea level rise and increased storm ferociousness

*Missing in action with funding to assist Council's to deal with the aftermath of deadly storms

Oh and the so called letter of request - missing from my inbox - written, posted on line for political purposes, never received in my inbox, yet a whole bunch of 'reply all' with more misinformation that Shoalhaven Heads will benefit from a permanent opening.

The never received letter

Just another day at the office for local member rubbishing people -