Bringing-Them-Home-Report-Web

Stress is another health issue which affects Indigenous families. It is related, amongother factors, to living in poverty and to unemployment and under employment. In the1994 ABS survey nearly 30% of individuals aged 15 years and over reported worryingabout going without food. This worry was particularly prevalent in households where noonewas working and where there were dependent children (ABS 1995a page 13).HousingThe Inquiry was told that ‘without housing, an individual’s education, economic andsocio-cultural developments are severely curtailed. Without adequate housing, familycohesion and ability to care for children is severely inhibited’ (ALSWA submission 127page x). Aboriginal people have problems accessing adequate housing primarily for threereasons.Firstly, the most significant influences are the philosophy, policies and practices of Homeswest.Secondly, the difficulty in obtaining adequate private rental accommodation disadvantagesAboriginal people. Thirdly, the practice of allocating housing to Aboriginal communities often inremote and fringe areas of the State further disadvantages them (ALSWA submission 127 page118).The WA Aboriginal Legal Service criticised Homeswest’s policies on eviction andthreatened eviction. ‘[M]any of the policies of Homeswest amount to direct and indirectdiscrimination against Aboriginal applicants and tenants’ (submission 127 page xi). Itdrew attention to the high level of discretion at the regional level in placing Aboriginalfamilies and argues that Aboriginal people are treated less favourably (submission 127pages 121-148). ‘There are places in the Pilbara and Kimberley regions where the state ofhousing can only be described as unacceptable for human habitation’ (submission 127page 152). Other reports and inquiries have drawn a similar picture of Indigenoushousing throughout Australia. 2Unsatisfactory housing can have a direct link with the removal of Indigenouschildren and young people.It’s really awful. It is so difficult to try to bring up my children and send them to schoolwhen I am moving from one place to another. Since I was kicked out of Homeswestaccommodation I haven’t been able to find any accommodation. I live on Social Securityand I have two children who are in high school. It is hard enough for our children to stay atschool but when they have to move from school to school because we need to move and havea roof over our heads, it is very unsettling for them. That’s why I have only got the twoolder boys. My daughter who is only ten lives with an aunty of mine in B. I wanted to lookafter her but some social worker from the Department said that it was best if we stayed inone place for my daughter’s development. I was too scared to argue with the social workerbecause I know what the Department can be like.Quoted by ALSWA submission 127 on page 117.According to the 1994 ABS survey, some 95% of Indigenous young people lived in