The Covid-19 pandemic has been destabilising, putting pressure on economic, health and social systems. It has also disproportionately affected some of the most disadvantaged groups in our community. The hard lockdown of nine social housing towers in North Melbourne called national and international attention not only to the Victorian government’s response but also to the quality of Australia’s social housing stock. Social housing estates have become known as places of concentrated social and economic disadvantage following years of disinvestment enabled by policy makers, with stigmatisation by the government and the media.
Following decades of neglect, social housing dwellings have become overcrowded and poorly maintained, offering the perfect environment for the virus to fester, as physical distancing is virtually impossible. Acting Australian Chief Medical Officer Paul Kelly described the towers as “virtual cruise ships” with explosive potential to spread the virus. The outbreak in North Melbourne’s social housing estate warranted a large-scale response. The Victorian government chose initially to respond with police enforcement rather than prioritising the provision of medical and social services. It wouldn’t be unfair to conclude that the response was disproportionate, reactionary, and lacked preparation.
In NSW, the virus arrived at a time when public servants were still grappling with the restructuring of the government, with Land and Housing Corporation (LAHC) separated from the Department of Communities and Justice (DCJ). Has the separation of departments resulted in a more efficient and effective response? Initial experience and observations conclude no, not until later efforts by LAHC to implement regular cleaning in the high rises and increased communication with tenants by DCJ.
NSW Health should be congratulated for maintaining a robust detection, trace and isolate approach as well as a strong preventative response. Sydney Local Health District (SLHD) has encouraged testing and information sharing across the Redfern and Waterloo area. Within the Waterloo social housing estate, SLHD and NGO counterparts set up a Wellbeing Clinic in early May – providing free flu vaccinations and Covid-19 testing, and more recently on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays from 2-4pm at Waterloo Neighbourhood Centre SLHD is operating a testing clinic in addition to the Covid-19 clinics at Redfern Community Health Centre and RPA.
While in NSW the approach is to move people with Covid-19 to a supported health location if the risks are too high to leave them in their current location, it is clear that the pandemic has exposed potential flaws in the government’s emergency planning and response to social housing estates. It has also highlighted the strength and excellence of our public health services which are often overlooked and undervalued. When it comes to the development of a human services plan for our social housing communities, people’s health and wellbeing must be a priority. If the entrenched economic and social disadvantage within our social housing estates were to be framed like a public health concern, as the pandemic has been, then one might expect the government to take Australia’s social housing crisis seriously.
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Adam Antonelli works at Counterpoint Community Services.
