Author Archives: Lead Organiser

A TAAS worker’s impassioned plea

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The following post got a pretty big response on our facebook page so we thought we’d share it here.  For those of you who haven’t seen the standard response supporters are getting from the Premier’s facebook team, we’ll post that at the bottom.

Impassioned and heartfelt. A TAAS worker’s response to what the Premier’s Facebook team states as reasons for TAAS de-funding.
Christine:  I cant describe to you how wrong you are. I am a taas worker and one third of my clients are at risk of homelessness, a service t support these people is NOT what the RTA does. Your decision to take tenants money away from tenancy support services is very wrong and will gravely impact the homelessness situation and unfairly burden tenants with debts that are grossly fraudulent. Today i spoke to tenants who;
  • have lost their jobs are single parents and behind on their rent and are three weeks away from homelessness;
  • an elderley gentleman who has had no stove or laundry for two years, rats,mould and no receipts for rent or bond lodged and constantly told to pay more money; Continue reading →

Help will be harder to get for CQ renters come July

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Reprinted. Read directly from The Bulletin here. (April 12)

Help will be harder to get for CQ renters come July

Dan McIntyre, chairman of CQ consumers association incorporated at the Rockhampton Tenancy Board which will close soon. Photo Sharyn O'Neill / The Morning Bulletin


Dan McIntyre, chairman of CQ consumers association incorporated at the Rockhampton Tenancy Board which will close soon. Photo Sharyn O’Neill / The Morning Bulletin Sharyn O’Neill

HELP for Rocky’s battlers could get harder if funding of their rental advocacy group is stopped in June.

“The Tenancy Advice and Advocacy Service got short-term relief money from the Federal Government after the Queensland Government pulled the funding last year,” CQ Consumers’ Association chairman Dan McIntyre said.

“The federal funding kept the service going but that expires on June 30.”

An average of 180 people a month sought help from the tenancy service last year, most of them from the Rockhampton Regional Council area, and a small number from the Central Highlands and Central West areas. Continue reading →

NPA on homelessness – 5 States & Territories sign but Queensland not yet!

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STATES AND ACT ADD THEIR SIGNATURES TO FEDERAL GOVERNMENT’S NATIONAL HOMELESSNESS AGREEMENT

THE HON MARK BUTLER MP
Minister for Housing and Homelessness  Press Release 14 May 2013

Five of the states and territories have now signed on to the Federal Government’s National Partnership Agreement on Homelessness for 2013/14 guaranteeing federal funds will flow to their states.

Mr Butler said the Commonwealth had put up to $159 million on the table in March on the condition that states matched funding.

“New South Wale, Victoria, Tasmania, South Australia and the ACT have all signed on to the agreement, which also makes them eligible to bid for further funding under the Development Fund as part of a competitive process,” Mr Butler said.

“Applications for the Development Fund close today, so I urge remaining state governments to finance their share of this agreement to guarantee their state also has access to the fund.”

“This funding will ensure services which help give people a hand up every day have the certainty they need to continue delivering critical support.”

Mr Butler said achieving real results in reducing homelessness was only possible through joint responsibility and collaborative action.

“The transitional agreement provides funding to the sector over the next 12 months, while the Australian and state and territory governments negotiate a longer-term response to homelessness.”

“It’s now time for Queensland, WA and the Northern Territory to provide surety to homelessness service providers and their clients by committing their share of funds and signing the agreement as soon as possible.”

The National Partnership Agreement is part of the Federal Government’s $26 billion investment in housing and homelessness services, which aims to halve the rate of homelessness by 2020.

Public housing ownership may move to non-government groups

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Reprinted from the Mackay Daily Mercury.  Read it directly here.

Public housing ownership may move to non-government groups

Merrilyn Rowler: If you can’t get people housing in your society then that’s the government’s responsibility ...
Merrilyn Rowler: If you can’t get people housing in your society then that’s the government’s responsibility …

MACKAY tenant advocacy groups have criticised a recommendation put to the State Government to transfer ownership and management of public housing to non- government groups.

This week the State Government was given the Queensland Commission of Audit report, which included a recommendation to progressively transition existing and new public housing stock to the non-government sector.

However, Mackay Regional Tenants Group president Merrilyn Rowler said this was a bad idea. Continue reading →

International Union of Tenants makes comment

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International Union of Tenants

International Union of Tenants

Mr Magnus Hammar, Secretary-General of the International Union of Tenants based in Sweden, posted this comment on the Save Tenant Services facebook page recently.   Mr Hammar was  a keynote speaker at the National Housing Conference held in Brisbane last November.

Magnus Hammar:  Tenant services, incl. TUQ and all TAAS offices, are essential for all tenants in Queensland as the level of tenant’s security is so low in Queensland, and in other Australian states, compared with most other developed countries. This in spite of the fact that 1/3 of all Australians rent their accommodation. TUQ and TAAS contribute to a more level and fair playing field in a country where homeownership is favourised. Save tenant services!

Tenancy service to shut its doors

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Reprinted from the Whitsunday Times 3-5-13.  Read it directly here.

Photo from the Whitsunday Times

Photo from the Whitsunday Times

IT IS deja vu for staff at the Tenancy and Housing Information Service Whitsunday who have once again been told that due to a lack of funding their service is set to close.

Tenant advocate Julie Scanlon and service co-ordinator Rebecca Adamson first felt the effects of State Government funding cuts in July 2012, when it was announced that their service would close on October 30 that year.

After fighting a losing battle to see the service retained, Ms Scanlon and Ms Adamson packed their bags, sold the furniture, destroyed the records and moved out of their premises on Proserpine Main Street. Just days later the Federal Government came to their aid with funding to extend the service until June 30, 2013.

Ms Scanlon said it was hoped that the State Government would pick up the ball after that date but a recent letter from the Department of Housing and Public Works said this would not be the case.

“This service is going to close – I don’t think there’s any doubt about that, so what we need now is clarity so we can advise people where to go when we disappear – so that link is not totally lost,” she said.

Since the Whitsunday office was revived in October 2012, more than 750 tenancy matters have been passed through its doors, ranging from outright homelessness to Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal (QCAT) support.

Ms Scanlon said it would be awful if the service was reduced to a phone call, when so often clients needed to see a friendly face.

She said plans to redirect funding from Tenancy Advice and Advocacy Services (TAAS) towards the building of social housing in Queensland’s southeast would not help the people of the Whitsundays.

Nonetheless,Whitsunday MP Jason Costigan said putting money into bricks and mortar would address the problem of homelessness and made sense.

Letter to my local MP

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(insert date)

(Add your local MP’s address here)
Who is my MP? – call parliament house 1800 197 809
Don’t know your MP’s address click here or call parliament house
Dear (insert name of your MP here)

I am writing to ask if you support the decision made by the state government last year to withdraw funding for all independent tenant advice services in Queensland.

As my local member I am asking you to voice support for these services in our community and seek reinstatement of funding for them.

I also ask you to approach Premier Campbell Newman on my behalf and request he consider re-funding these services before December when their emergency funding from the Commonwealth runs out.

Until last year, just a small percent of the interest generated on tenants’ own bonds – not taxpayer dollars – provided fundng for local, independent services in 23 locations statewide, employing highly trained workers.  It’s only fair that these services are reinstated for tenants. 

Without your successful intervention tenant advice services will close on December 31 and tenants will have nowhere to go for independent advice and tenancy support.  The system will not work and tenants will be disadvantaged within it.

For many this wil lead to rental stress and potential homelessness.

I look forward to your written response to these urgent concerns for local tenants.

Yours sincerely

(Add your name address here)