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UN man condemns Australia for housing failures

By Annabel Stafford

1 June 2007 - The United Nations Special Rapporteur on housing has condemned Australia for failing to implement the human right to adequate housing, warning that groups such as indigenous people and women are missing out on safe and affordable accommodation.

During a trip around Australia last year which took in Aboriginal communities, shelters for domestic violence victims and public housing Miloon Kothari found "reductions in public housing stock, soaring private rental rates, an acknowledged housing affordability crisis and no real reduction in the number of homeless".

The report of his visit criticises long waiting times for public housing, the increasingly tough tests to qualify for public housing and discrimination against certain people in the private housing market.

Mr Kothari expresses concern about several policies implemented by the Howard Government, including Welfare to Work, which he says appears to have made it harder for the poor to afford housing.

He also "reminds the Government that retrogressive measures, such as cuts in expenditure on public housing or homelessness services, are permissible only in 'exceptional circumstances', which is obviously not the case in
Australia".

Among his recommendations, Mr Kothari says Canberra should set up a ministry for housing and adopt a co-ordinated housing policy with its state counterparts.

Australian governments also "must urgently address the humanitarian tragedy of the lack of housing and basic services for the indigenous peoplesof Australia," the report says.

"To this end, the Special Rapporteur encourages relevant government staff tovisit and reside in indigenous communities, in order to better comprehend the reality and the challenges faced by the populations and communities in theselocations."

Source: The Age

related links :

• 11 May 2007 - Report of the Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living, Miloon Kothari download as PDF

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