General

• What's the rent?' seminar

  15 February, 2012

  1. ‘What’s the rent?’ seminar

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  If your agency assists low-income tenants or you are a tenant, the ‘What’s the rent?’ seminar from Shelter NSW and the Tenants Union of NSW is for you. This seminar will investigate current arrangements for delivering affordable rents, and explore directions for reform.

  The aim of rent subsidies for social housing tenants and Commonwealth Rent Assistance (CRA) is to deliver affordable rents … but these forms of assistance face a number of pressures:

  ·    Financial sustainability of social housing — how can social housing providers balance financial viability with the current rent-setting models?

  ·    Workforce participation — are work disincentives inevitable where social housing tenants pay income-based rents, and most CRA recipients’eligibility is tied to another Centrelink benefit?

  ·    Equity — can the division in outcomes between social housing (affordable rents, relative security) and CRA-assisted private rental (rents often still unaffordable, little security) be addressed?

  Speakers include:

  ·    Associate Professor Kath Hulse, Senior Researcher, Swinburne

  Institute for Social Research

  ·    Deborah Brill, Director, Housing Strategy, Housing NSW

  ·    Michelle Craig, Chairperson, NSW Aboriginal Housing Office

  ·    Maree O’Halloran, AM, Director, Welfare Rights Centre

  ·    Professor Hal Pawson, City Futures Research Centre, University of

  New South Wales

  ·    Adrian Pisarski, Chairperson, National Shelter.

  When: Wednesday, 15 February 2012, from 9.00 am to 1.00 pm.

  Where: Mitchell Theatre, Level 1, Sydney Mechanics’ School of Arts, 280 Pitt Street, Sydney.

  Registration and fees: the registration fees are $45.00 (waged) and

  $20.00 (unwaged). These fees include GST. Morning tea will be provided.

  Bookings are essential, and registrations close on Wednesday, 1 February 2012. To register, download a seminar leaflet <http://www.shelternsw.org.au/docs/fly12rentseminar.pdf> (pdf, 274 kb), or go to: <http://www.shelternsw.org.au/docs/fly12seminar-rego.html>.

  More information:

  ·    For registration queries, please contact our office administrator on (02) 9267 5733 ext. 13 or email: admin@shelternsw.org.au

  ·    For other queries, call Paula Rix on (02) 9267 5733 ext. 12 or email: paula@shelternsw.org.au

  ·    See the websites:

  <http://www.shelternsw.org.au/docs/fly12seminar-about.html> and <http://www.tenants.org.au/>.