‘It’s time to end the demonization of public housing’, according to Mary Perkins, executive officer of Shelter NSW.
Ms Perkins was announcing the holding of a seminar on the social and economic outcomes of public and community housing for the people who live there.
The seminar, ‘Housing dollars; social value: the public and economic outcomes of public and community housing’, will be held at the University of Sydney tomorrow, Tuesday 5 July.
The NSW Minister for Housing, the Hon. Joseph Tripodi, MP, will be giving a keynote address in the afternoon.
There will also be an interactive panel of tenants from public housing, community housing, and cooperative housing.
Associate professor Peter Phibbs Urban and Regional Planning Program at Sydney University will be giving a presentation based on a major research study of nonhousing outcomes of public housing. Professor Phibbs told the media: ‘Good secure housing provides not only shelter, but also the capacity to affect other important aspects of recipients lives including people’s health, education and employment.’
Jane Woodruff, chief executive officer of UnitingCare Burnside, will be pointing to the experiences of her agency working in disadvantaged suburbs.
The seminar will allow tenants, researchers, and policymakers to discuss the complexities of life in social housing, so that advantages can be acknowledged and so that disadvantages can be better addressed, concluded Ms Perkins.
The seminar is hosted by the Urban and Regional Planning Program at Sydney University and is sponsored by UnitingCare Burnside.
The seminar program is online at www.shelternsw.org.au/docs/sem0507sem-program.html.
Contacts:
Mary Perkins, Shelter NSW – 0419 919 091 (m), 9267 5733 ext.14 (w)
Peter Phibbs, Sydney University – 0401 716 362 (m)
Jane Woodruff, UnitingCare Burnside – 0402 891 325 (m)
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