Michelle Griffin
Social Affairs Editor, The Age. Thursday 8 December 2011

SHE may have lost her right leg, but Sister Pat Timoney is prepared to stand her ground. The feisty one-legged nun has joined forces with high profile GP Sally Cockburn, best known as 3AW's broadcaster Dr Feelgood, to save 18 units for the elderly that Bayside Council plans to shut down.

November 2011
A toolkit for residents' committees has been developed by Housing for the Aged Action Group (HAAG) to provide practical information on starting and running a residents' committee.

The law gives residents who have signed a valid site agreement the right to form and take part in residents' committees. The full rights of such residents (who are referred to as site tenants in the law) are covered in Part 4A of the Residential Tenancies Act 1997.

Evicted elderly, disabled residents to seek redress against council’s decision
Residents being evicted from Bayside Council’s independent living units are considering a legal challenge.
Last month the council made a decision to remove the 16 elderly or disabled residents over the next two years.
The council says the Sandringham and Beaumaris units are costing too much to maintain and the service is not a core responsibility. But the move caused outrage in the community, with many decrying the decision as a land grab.

Residents not sold on reports
BY SARAH O'CONNOR
04 Apr, 2011 Greater Dandenong Weekly - Your Community Voice

RESIDENTS at Willow Lodge in Bangholme are unhappy with new rules that force them to pay thousands of dollars for safety reports before they can sell their homes.

Willow Lodge comprises about 400 relocatable homes and comes under the Caravan Park Act. Residents own their homes, but not the land they're on.

Private rental too much for many families
Michelle Griffin and Reid Sexton
March 29, 2011 the Age

SOARING rents in the private market have become too exorbitant for low-income workers across all capital cities in Australia.

To rent a typical three-bedroom home in any major metropolitan city, a family of four living on the minimum wage of $29,500 a year would be paying between 35 per cent and 60 per cent of their income, according to the latest Private Rental Affordability Bulletin compiled by the Tenants Union of Victoria.

Charities turn away needy - Housing costs creating new poor

Monday March 28, 2011
By Michelle Griffin
Social Affairs Editor
The Age

CHARITIES are turning away record numbers of needy people as they struggle to cope with the demand created by the housing affordability crisis.

More than half the 745 charities polled by the Australian Council of Social Services for their forthcoming 2011 Community Sector Survey - an estimated 408 social services - say they can't meet demand.

Social housing a vital support
Letter to the Age Monday 4 April 2011

JULIE Szego (''The best suburbs mix the down and out with the up and coming'', Comment, 2/4) captures the essence of the divisiveness occurring in and around Melbourne. Everyone has a right to adequate shelter. But if we want to live in a fair and just society, our communities have a responsibility too.

There are dozens of NIMBY excuses against social housing developments. But well planned and designed social housing can provide appropriate and affordable accommodation and add to diversity.

Moved to anger - Pensioners told to leave homes.

Tuesday, 01 March, 2011
By Suzanne Robson
The Preston Leader

ELDERLY Preston residents are scared and angry that they are being forced out of the public houses they have called home for decades.

Residents in Stokes, Penola and Showers streets have been told by the Office of Housing that they have to relocate to other public housing so their homes can be demolished.

Not Happy Campers
Friday, March 18, 2011
By Geoff Strong
The Age

What's the point in owning your own home when the land beneath it can be sold out from under you?

WHAT a splendid setting for the twilight years. A nice street, two rows of similar weatherboard houses that have a late Victorian-era feel about them, and all with neat look-alike gardens. In a blink it could easily seem part of an old inner Melbourne suburb like Kensington.