Melburnians without fluent English may be denied a proper voice on the future of public housing, according to tenants’ representatives.
As the Baillieu government prepares to reform its public housing policies, community consultation through a feedback survey is being offered to tenants only in English, even though many tenants are likely not to be proficient in the language.
The survey has also been criticised as an inappropriate device for consultation, given its use of sophisticated bureaucratic language.
Mere-Paore Epere, chair of an inner-north Melbourne tenants’ group told reporters this week that the survey was a mystery to many residents.
Ms Epere said English was a second language for up to 60 per cent of tenants who lived in Melbourne’s inner north and west, and that the 4000 tenants represented by her group included African, Arabic, Chinese, Turkish and Greek speakers.
Whilst the 28 questions in the online survey would sit comfortably in a specialist government committee, they are unlikely to empower even an English speaking tenant who has limited experience of social housing policy development.
Though a letter was sent to public housing tenants in nine languages (though not in Greek) describing the survey, vital discussion papers of the issues under consideration and the online feedback form itself, are only available in English.
People who have contacted organisers to ask for assistance have been told to arrange for a friend or family member to translate. In its Pathways to a new Victorian social housing framework paper, the government argues that the current system is unfair, with tenants in public housing better off than equally poor people who rent privately. The government review is expected to lead to higher rents and shorter tenures for public housing residents.
Dimitri Bouras, a case worker with the Australian Greek Welfare Society (AGWS) regularly deals with housing issues affecting the Greek community.
Mr Bouras told Neos Kosmos that he hoped the government would ensure more translations of the review’s papers were produced but that translations needed careful attention.
“When it comes to sophisticated or specialized vocabulary there’s a problem,” said Mr Bouras.
“You need to have an effective translation done and organize focus groups specifically for the translation, to see how comprehendible it is.”
Mark Dowling, tenant group support officer for the Victorian Public Tenants Association told Neos Kosmos: “It’s very difficult from people from culturally and linguistically diverse communities to have a chance to provide feedback to this survey. The question you really have to ask is, how serious are they about engaging in consultation and the public’s opinion?
“Some of the questions are so global, so large, you could write a thesis on them,” said Mr Dowling, who appealed for the government to “have a real community consultation” including multilingual forums for tenants.
Meanwhile, Department of Human Services acting director of housing, Doug Craig, was reported as acknowledging that the feedback form made little sense without the accompanying issues papers: ”[That] is why we are now going to the next step of producing a summarised version of the discussion papers,” Mr Craig told media last week.
“This is the start of a three-month process that will involve us talking directly to tenant groups. We are not trying to trick anyone,” said the acting director.
Mr Craig added that the department would be considering publishing all the issues papers in the key foreign languages, though the cost may be prohibitive.
A Victorian Government spokesperson told Neos Kosmos: “The cost to translate and produce both discussion papers in nine languages is more than $100,000.
“Given this, the government decided to first gauge the level of demand for the documents to be translated and to date. Just 20 requests have been received. Thus far, one request was for information in Greek. We are considering the best ways of providing this information given the low level of demand.”
The spokesperson added that sessions for non-English speakers would be organised as part of the consultation program. The deadline for responses is July 31.