NESB Housing Taskforce NSW |
Attendance
Mary Perkins (Shelter NSW); Cheryl Webster (Anglicare); Arna Rathgen (STARTTS); Lana Vikari (Bankstown Women’s Support Centre); Lucy Greenacre (Refugee Council of Australia); Esther Rice (Migrant Network Services Northern Sydney); Cynthia Prasad (CCAS Eastwood); Maureen Kingshott (Multicultural Disability Advocacy Association); Dusko Jakovljevic (Anglicare).
Apologies
Chris Martin (Tenants Union NSW)
Chair: Mary Perkins
Minute-taker: Esther Rice
Amend previous minutes to include Lo-Shu Wen, STARTTS, on attendance list.
Item – Minutes of Previous Meeting 4 (b) Case Studies
Discussion Mary suggested the project be put on hold as too few documented case studies had been received. The meeting decided to re-think the project and look for new ideas. It was agreed to broaden the scope of the case studies to include migrants as well as refugees, e.g. including MDAA experiences. Dusko added that he had some more case studies to send (current cases that are now with the Office of Fair Trading’s Real Estate Investigations Unit)
Action Dusko will forward case studies
Item – Minutes of Previous Meeting 4 (d) Training
Discussion Mary has spoken with Lucy, RCOA. Shelter will offer another workshop on Housing Issues and Policy in March/April. RCOA will send out notices and organize registrations. Date still to be finalized;
Action Date to be finalized; Cheryl will send Mary some advice on dates; RCOA to follow up with finalizing arrangements, with Shelter and attendees.
Item – Minutes of Previous Meeting 4 (g) Anti-Social Behavior Agreements (ABAs)
Discussion Chris from the Tenants Union had given an extensive report on this at the last meeting. The DOH’s ABA pilots are proceeding; nothing major to report. Mary noted importance of monitoring the way the department is applying the policy, especially in relation to the SRT process that is supposed to come first as a preventative strategy. Some resource concerns re the SRTs had been expressed by the other human services departments involved, but there is now a new Housing Minister.
Action Agenda items for the next DOH Consultation, on 3 March, to include: 1. ABAs; 2. Joint Guarantees of Service; 3. EAPS.
Item – Minutes of Previous Meeting 5 - Auburn Humanitarian Network (AHN)
Discussion Mary noted Adam Farrar of NSW Federation of Housing Associations was not available for today’s meeting.
Action NESB HT will respond if the AHN comes back.
Item 4 (1) – Membership
Discussion Mary asked members to send her names and email addresses of any other people/organizations who should be invited to the NESB HT meetings.
Action All to send
Item 4 (2) – RCOA Paper
Discussion Lucy reported that she had done some amendments and editing of the paper, and would send the latest version to Mary.
Action Lucy to send latest version of the paper to Mary.
Item 4 (3) – Fact Sheets for Tenants and Real Estate Agents (SSI)
DiscussionGamal had spoken about this initiative at the last meeting, and asked for some comments/feedback from Shelter and the NESB HT.
Action Cheryl to ask Gamal to send the draft SSI fact sheets to Mary for comments.
Item 5 (1) – DOH Issues: Tenancy Guarantees; TPV eligibility
Discussion DOH Tenancy Guarantees were discussed at last meeting; clarification needed about aspects of the policy. Noting that differing advice has been received from different sources within the Department on TPV holders’ eligibility for Rentstart, a clear policy statement on this issue is needed from the Department, and can then be put on NHT pages on Shelter’s web site.
Action Mary to place on agenda for DOH consultation on 3 March:
Progress report on ABAs
Request for information on Tenancy Guarantees
Request for clarification of TPV holders’ eligibility for Rentstart
Joint Guarantee of Services – Mental Health
Item 5 – Other Business
Discussion Plan of action for the year/Outstanding projects
Real Estate Agents Plan of action for information gathering and advocacy strategies to overcome discrimination by Real Estate agents.
Piloting in Hornsby?
Elements to include newsletter article; info package.
Action Cheryl & Esther - Esther to meet with Cheryl about info package for R/E agents
RCOA Paper
The paper will be good as an overarching policy document, for purposes of lobbying. The paper can be updated on an ongoing basis, to reflect current issues, e.g. current issue of large families from camps in Africa.
Discussion of related issues:
Dusko reported on problems they are experiencing in this regard: extended families being treated as one household rather than more than one, and thus receiving less entitlement to household formation support and accommodation support. (1MPMS number = 1 family unit). Overcrowding then becomes a real problem. Maureen mentioned a related point, that DOH has offered a 2br apartment to a family group of 8-9 people. Dusko mentioned DOH web site states a clear policy against overcrowding.
Strategic plans – Senate 1 July – new welfare and IR agenda – likely impact re housing issues/groups
June meeting of NESB HT would be a good time to look at how these changes will affect our clients, and how we might respond – for June agenda. And are there any other upcoming broader changes that will affect our clients?
Security deposits
For DOH agenda – Dusko raised issue of tenant losing one week of Rentstart if they have already paid a 1-week security deposit with their own borrowed funds.
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Updated 6 April
2005