15 July 2011 Volume: 21 Issue: 13 North Korea's ... - Eureka Street

Volume 21 Issue: 1315 July 2011Houses without wallsPOLITICSPaul O’CallaghanHousing researchers Dr Guy Johnson and Professor Chris Chamberlainhave recently argued for a ‘housing first’ approach, that offers peoplepermanent housing to homeless people without first putting conditions ontheir behaviour.The concept flies in the face of politicians and welfare agencies inAustralia, where it seems the idea of ‘conditionality’ has never been sopopular. It’s almost as if there’s a race to think of new ways of making welfare supportconditional on responsible behavior.There’s an assumption that jobs, housing and a secure income are available to anyonewilling to take advantage of education, training and job opportunities. And for thosetemporarily down on their luck, there are things like welfare-to-work programs and mentalhealth services. So if disadvantage persists, it can only be because some people refuse to behelped.Conditionality is also popular with the broader public. Most of us believe in equality ofopportunity rather than equality of outcomes. When we are doing alright, it’s tempting tothink it’s because we are setting our alarm clocks early, showing up to work and putting in theeffort. People who are unwilling to take advantage of the opportunities available have no oneto blame but themselves. It’s only fair that their welfare support should be conditional on howthey behave.But sometimes conditionality just doesn’t work. Homelessness is a prime example.In the latest Australian Journal of Social Issues, Johnson and Chamberlain argue that policyresponses to the homeless mentally ill often fail because they expect people to accept treatmentbefore offering them a place to live. This approach assumes that problems such as mentalillness are the root cause of homelessness, and insists that people take responsibility forstraightening themselves out before we ‘reward’ them with housing.But as Johnson and Chamberlain explain, most people who are homeless do not have amental illness and, in some cases, mental illness is a consequence, raather than a cause, ofhomelessness. Research by the Sacred Heart Mission suggests more than half of its clientsdeveloped a mental health problem after becoming homeless.Homelessness has many causes. Many of those have little or nothing to do with individualbehaviour. Family breakdown, the death of a spouse or parent, the high cost of housing andthe low rates of payment of Centrelink allowances and pensions are just some.©2011 EurekaStreet.com.au 31