“I never thought I’d be homeless. There’s always an undercurrent of people thinking you did something wrong, but it can happen to anyone.”
These are the words of a 52-year-old woman who immigrated from South Africa 10 years ago. After a series of unfortunate events left her broke and couch surfing, she was forced to leave Castlemaine in order to seek affordable housing elsewhere.
Last weekend My Home Network (auspiced by Dhelkaya Health) hosted a community housing forum in Castlemaine to provide community members the opportunity to talk with local government representatives about addressing the region’s housing crisis.
The panel of speakers included Federal Bendigo MP Lisa Chesters, Bendigo West State MP Maree Edwards, Mount Alexander Shire Council (MASC) Mayor Rosie Annear, MASC Housing Solutions Broker Clare Richards, and MASC Strategic Planning Coordinator Lauren Watt.
During the course of the afternoon, the panel listened to questions and personal experiences relating to the current housing crisis, with MP Edwards sharing her own experience of being inches away from homelessness.
“I remember lying awake at night wondering how I was going to feed the children. I do know that feeling,” Ms Edwards said.
Mayor Annear noted that the culture around the housing crisis needs to change and move towards empathy and understanding of different needs.
“What we need to do will take time, but in the interim, we need to make sure the community can look after each other,” Mayor Annear commented.
“I wish there was a quick fix but there’s just not.”
The conversations centered around the importance of the three levels of government working together to find solutions and while panel members acknowledged that the situation in the short term is dire, they expressed their hope for the future.
Some of the specific solutions discussed included; the state government’s removal of rate charges from social housing, filtering the money back into public housing, accessing the region’s share of available funding, trying to unlock state-owned land in Newstead and Maldon, and having input into the federal government’s 10-year plan for housing and homelessness.
Panel members also discussed the removal of planning permits required on rural living properties, looking at how best to utilise vacant dwellings and building quality, low-cost modular housing as well as ways to provide immediate and tangible support to people experiencing homelessness and housing instability.
If anyone is interested in providing assistance with the shire’s housing response there are a number of ways to get involved including; assisting with practical support (meals, transport etcetera), listing rental properties with a not-for-profit real estate, renting out rooms, joining the My Home Network working group or discussing donating or selling land to with a My Home Network expert. For more information visit: cch.org.au/community/my-home-network/ or email:projects2@centralvicpcp.com.au