Sunday, April 19, 2009

Public Housing design worries

The Federal government has reversed the housing neglect of the Howard years with their new housing stimulus package. NSW has been allocated about $2 billion for new housing. Let's hope Housing NSW are not running around like headless chooks, because they've got just 2 years to spend the 2 bill on 6000 new housing units.

Let's hope that in their haste they don't repeat the design mistakes of the past, or impose new 'big ideas" on us.

DH is worried that everyone is talking about getting max buildings for the buck, but no-one seems to be talking about design.

Housing NGO's are pre-occupied with economic and social welfare issues, and noone is talking architecture. Yet that is what affects houso's lives most.

Is Housing NSW consulting with stakeholders at all?

Who are the designers? What are their guidelines?

5 comments:

kimba said...

You actually expect them to consult people like us? lol

DH said...

Yes I do. In fact they are obligated to consult with tenants on issues that affect us through our local representatives, and various representative committees. It's up to us to raise these issues, and I will be raising them through the avenues that are open to me.

p.b.dunn said...

Gidday all .. for info i got an eviction notice in relation to a $127.00 water bill. When i checked out the Pdf document Water Usage Policey sect 19A or the residential tennancy act of 2005 (social housing)on their site i noticed
1. Any penalties resulting from a breach of the DOH waser usage policy are imposed and collected by the local water authority, not the DOH.

2. the Doh are responsible for meeting all costs pertaining to maintaining water usage and are to work with and support tennats towards resolving the difficulty.
3. Actual Usage is the amount of water used by the tennant in literage (which they are supposed to be informed of in a bill with your metered literage usage clearly listed on the bill) , divided by the number of weeks in the billing period.
4 My Water usage bill is guestimated. and provisions of Notifying tennants on page 6 of their document..(re literage /water usage amount on bill) arnt being complied with
5. the continual incriminization and degredation of my, security, safety and sense of well being
is being denigrated with threats of termination of occupancy.
5. Job no 5386437 in relation to insulaton for premises 14 storey street port kembla issued on 10/10/07 is still waiting to be complied with. Even after mr Rudds statements

Subnitted for info.

Anonymous said...

I have been driven to ocd by the poor design of the inhouse award winning hell I live in. For starters, it is a de facto mental institution. The department quotes privacy reasons for everything, yet no consideration was given to privacy in the design. I can see, hear and smell the neighbours. They cannot, I repeat, cannot be evicted no matter how feral.
In Singapore, 80% of housing is from the public sector. This housing can be purchased. The problem with our housing is the units are of such quality that the units cannot be sold - also the neighbours cannot be evicted. If the housing was of a saleable standard and there was more of it, public housing would not be the social stigma it is. Unfortunately, we have people like my neighbours who are ARND affected - the whole family. They steal, drink, take drugs and fight constantly. The anti-social have no place in "social housing" and need housing in a different setting to those in the normal range.

nonsmokersrights said...

So just on design and our health, will they make the new unit blocks absolutely non-smoking, ie that smokers cannot smoke anywhere inside or out of their units, not on balconies or in the yard, only if they get out on the street to pursue their filthy disgusting habit. This is important as I live in a HNSW unit and it f*&%$&n stinks with smoking neighbours, you can't open windows, it gets into the hall the smell stays forever its hideous.