Melbourne: Let’s Talk About Actualising Fairer Urban Spaces
Homelessness and Post-COVID Urbanism
As an urban researcher, the COVID-19 pandemic continues to unfold like a dystopian simulation, providing research fodder for months, even years, to come. As a person — with feelings of hope, uncertainty and despair — this pandemic feels like a terrifying test of humanity.
At 1663 confirmed cases, 1563 recoveries and 19 deaths, the Australian State of Victoria is faring well by international standards¹. This deft sidestep of mass infections — and deaths — may be attributed to the Victorian State government’s decision to enforce social distancing. From late-March to mid-May, Victorians were told to “STAY HOME”. Work and school shifted online. Socialising occurred over Google hangouts, Netflix Party and a plethora of other social apps. With public health orders heavy-handedly enforced by Victoria Police, Melbourne came to a screeching halt².
As restrictions ease, active and public transport initiatives are being positioned as ways in which Melbourne can sustainably incorporate social distancing and hygiene requirements into its post-quarantine urban fabric. For example, the City of Melbourne is reclaiming parking for footpaths and pop-up cycling paths, to ensure that surging numbers of cyclists and pedestrians can maintain social distancing³. Urban professionals are also advancing public transport reform and placemaking, to stimulate Melbourne’s urban pulse and economy⁴.
Such initiatives are appealing. After all, social interaction — the lifeblood of cities — is now potentially deadly. Melbourne’s transitions toward a compact, public transport-oriented city might be derailed by potentially well-founded fears of dense public spaces. If the solutions posited above address such fears, Melbourne’s street life might recover. However, in the pursuit to turn this global tragedy into an opportunity, I worry that Melbourne’s post-COVID urban development might deliver ever-better outcomes in well-serviced, privileged areas, whilst sidelining our most marginalised communities.
“Let’s ask for post-COVID outcomes which serve those who were already isolated and under-served by our urbanity before this.”
Before COVID-19, homelessness was outpacing Australia’s population growth, with rough sleeping doubling in Melbourne from 2011–2016⁵. Since COVID-19, housing stress has increased due to the pandemic’s social and economic fallout⁶. People experiencing homelessness are particularly vulnerable to COVID-19, due to poor access to hygiene facilities, a lack of options for self-isolation, and a higher risk of health complications⁷.
In response, the State government rolled out four COVID-19 Isolation and Recovery Facilities (CIRFs) to support people experiencing homelessness who test positive for COVID-19⁸. The State government also doubled crisis funding to AUD$6M, supporting crisis housing providers in their bid to rapidly house Melbourne’s homeless. Approximately 4,500 homeless people have been temporarily housed via Victoria’s COVID-19 emergency response, an admirable feat in a time when homeless support services have seen funding and operational capacity shrink⁹.
Temporary housing is, however, precarious. As life slowly returns to ‘normal’ in Melbourne, the long-term needs of people experiencing homelessness must not be forgotten. Chiefly, more social and affordable housing is necessary to address housing insecurity¹⁰.
Victoria has the lowest proportion of social housing in Australia, at 3.2% of all housing. To meet the national average of 4.5%, Victoria needs to build 6000 social housing dwellings a year for 10 years¹¹. Indigenous people are particularly vulnerable to housing insecurity due to the compounded, structural disadvantages perpetuated by settler-colonialism; they experience homelessness 10 times more than non-Indigenous Australians¹².
The Victorian government recently announced the approval of 780 social housing units to be built this year, as part of its Social Housing Growth Fund, which launched in 2018¹³. Whilst an important step in addressing homelessness, this latest approval is part of the government’s long-term catch-up project, and has not been reworked to accommodate an increase in people experiencing homelessness and economic stress. Rather, the government continues to sell-off public land via its public housing renewal program, a public-private partnership wherein private developers acquire land previously solely dedicated to public housing, converting it to private dwellings and a small proportion of social housing¹⁴. Long-term solutions to homelessness require political and societal prioritisation.
Setting Ambitious Targets and Long-Term Plans
The Housing Peaks Alliance recently published ‘Make Social Housing Work’, a proposed framework which builds on and suggests improvements to the Victorian government’s ‘Homes for Victorians’ Strategy and ‘Victoria’s homelessness and rough sleeping action plan’. Chiefly, the framework suggests improvements to Victoria’s planning, regulatory and fiscal frameworks, in order to increase social and affordable housing stock, and to provide more support services to people who are most vulnerable to housing insecurity¹⁵.
Activist advocacies such as Save Public Housing Collective¹⁶ are also using their platforms to campaign for and draw attention to the needs of people experiencing housing stress during this pandemic.
I hope that when Melbourne emerges post-quarantine, the efforts of housing advocates and support services are brought to fruition as longer-term commitments from the Victorian State government to recalibrate its social housing response in alignment with the magnitude of our housing crisis.
Tackling the Stigma Surrounding Homelessness
While we advocate for much-needed sustainable transport reforms in Melbourne, we should also keep in mind equitable mobility outcomes.
Prof. Alison Young, Professor of Criminology at the University of Melbourne, and Dr. James Petty’s article,
“On visible homelessness and the micro-aesthetics of public space”
highlights the discrimination that rough sleepers face in public spaces¹⁷. Melbourne’s approach to visible homelessness — particularly in our CBD — is one of regulation and policing. The City of Melbourne (CoM) and Victoria Police’s protocol on rough sleeping targets homelessness as a danger to the CBD’s amenity, by identifying rough sleepers as potential breachers of public law & order¹⁸. Through this protocol, the Victoria Police have the powers to move on and/or detain rough sleepers, effectively criminalising them for using public space. Such protocols contribute to the continued stigmatisation of people experiencing homelessness, a significant barrier to their ability to navigate public space and access services¹⁹. The enforcement of this protocol is particularly concerning now, as the Victorian Police seeks a permanent expansion to the enforcement powers they were granted during this pandemic²⁰.
Conversely, cohealth, a not-for-profit community health organisation focused on reducing health inequity, is a producing a regular resource — co-designed with people experiencing homelessness — which minimises the risks of rough sleeping. The resource will include information such as accessing services and legal help, and will map public services and amenities²¹. This program is funded by the City of Melbourne’s (CoM) Pathways Innovation Fund, contrasting with its rough sleeping protocol’s approach²².
Additionally, stereotype-busting campaigns, which humanise people experiencing homelessness, can be a really powerful tool for tapping into our collective empathy. Let’s use our empathy. Let’s ask for post-COVID outcomes which serve those who were already isolated and under-served by our urbanity before this.
To that end, let’s ask for the removal of hostile architecture in Melbourne, which is not only an urban eyesore, but also an overt and cruel spatial rejection of people experiencing homelessness²³. Let’s ask for the abolishment of protocols which dehumanise people experiencing homelessness. Let’s talk about the need for more-and properly maintained — publicly-accessible hygiene facilities, which will not only serve the needs of people experiencing homelessness/ rough sleeping, but might also address the public health and hygiene imperatives which we will no doubt be heeding for the foreseeable future.
I hope that, as Melbourne’s urban pulse quickens, we don’t forget that this pandemic was a time of fear, danger and uncertainty for many, and not an opportunity for urban aestheticising²⁴. I hope that as we navigate our beloved city post-COVID, we respond to this pandemic’s test with collective empathy and humanity.
References
[1] <https://www.dhhs.vic.gov.au/coronavirus>
[2] <https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/covid-19-lockdown-fines-eroding-public-confidence-top-cop-warns-20200413-p54jfk.html> <https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2020/apr/21/victorians-describe-feeling-intimidated-by-police-enforcing-lockdown-laws>
[4] <https://theconversation.com/coronavirus-recovery-public-transport-is-key-to-avoid-repeating-old-and-unsustainable-mistakes-138415> <https://theconversation.com/we-cant-let-coronavirus-kill-our-cities-heres-how-we-can-save-urban-life-137063> <https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-04-19/coronavirus-changing-the-way-we-move-around-our-cities-forever/12158612> <https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2020/may/09/transport-after-coronavirus-how-will-we-fly-drive-commute-and-ride>
[6] <https://theconversation.com/coronavirus-lays-bare-5-big-housing-system-flaws-to-be-fixed-137162>
[7] <https://www.launchhousing.org.au/covid-19-first-responders-help-melbournes-homeless/><https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-04-05/coronavirus-threat-to-homeless-posed-by-covid-19/12117700>
[9] <https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2020/may/28/it-sucks-homeless-victorians-asked-to-help-pay-for-lockdown-hotels#maincontent> <https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-03-21/homelessness-charities-hard-hit-by-covid-19-pandemic/12071758>
[11] <https://vcoss.org.au/news/make-social-housing-work-covid/>
[12] <https://www.launchhousing.org.au/ending-homelessness/research-hub/australian-homelessness-monitor>
[13] <https://www.premier.vic.gov.au/delivering-new-homes-for-victorians-who-need-support/> <http://dhhs.vic.gov.au/victorian-social-housing-growth-fund>
[15] <https://vcoss.org.au/news/make-social-housing-work-covid/>
[16]< https://www.savepublichousing.com/>
[17] Young, A., & Petty, J. (2019). On visible homelessness and the micro-aesthetics of public space. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Criminology, The, 52(4), 444–461. <https://doi.org/10.1177/0004865818823945>
[18]<https://www.melbourne.vic.gov.au/sitecollectiondocuments/homeless ness-operating-protocol.pdf>
[21] Chiappalone, S., Kelly, B., & Mullins, R. (2020). Minimising the harm of rough sleeping: Integrating lived experience into addressing the health, legal and social risks of primary homelessness. Parity, 33(2), 17–19.
[23] <https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-03-02/design-crimes-how-hostile-architecture-is-hurting-our-cities/9498912> <http://honisoit.com/2019/10/hostile-architecture-a-city-consumed/>
