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The leader of Australia’s most rapidly expanding Aboriginal housing provider suggests that the current living cost challenges could offer First Nations communities a chance to tackle persistent issues.

Paul Coe, a Wiradjuri man and CEO of Birribee Housing, shared with NITV’s The Point that problems such as housing affordability and rising expenses are affecting Australians across various demographics.

Thumbnail of We Put The Blak In Blacktown

We Put The Blak In Blacktown

“When you look at current issues around cost of living … things that have been a concern for Aboriginal communities for years, society’s now joined them in this space,” he said.
“Society is now saying this is an election issue, which makes it a sweet spot for Aboriginal people to push and push for these outcomes as best they can.”

Founded by the NSW Aboriginal Land Council in 2019, Birribee Housing oversees numerous properties across the state and is involved in significant projects like the Tolland Estate renewal in Wagga Wagga.
In Blacktown, home to the country’s largest urban Indigenous population, Birribee manages more than 120 properties and operates an Aboriginal homelessness service in the region.
“It’s often a sum loss game,” said Coe.
“There’s more money going out than coming in, and it’s difficult, particularly in the Aboriginal housing space when the stock in Western Sydney [is] quite aged.

“They’re barely standing up. Old cottages that are cold, that are hot, and somehow society accepts that.”

Mr Coe said that a broader approach was needed to go beyond the current closing the gap focus on reducing overcrowding.
“We know that homelessness is probably more often than not an outcome of a former institution,” he said.
“You’ve been in out-of-home care, you’ve been in jail, you’ve been in mental health, or there’s been some other institutional effects on you.
“Your pathway to that hasn’t been shaped by yourself or your family…. Aboriginal families lean into their family a lot for support, and so we hide that homelessness to a large degree.

“However, that concealment … results in its financial strains in households, along with deterioration, and puts pressure on schools and other aspects.”

With around 60,000 people waitlisted for public housing across NSW, the need for new dwellings is critical.
However Dharug Elder Uncle Chris Tobin said that growth shouldn’t come at the expense of Country.
“This is the hard part for particularly TOs, or traditional custodians looking after their ancestral Country. We’ve still got that job,” he explained.
“We’ve got to keep looking at ways to rescue our Country and it’s just so hard to do with this model of development that just wants more and more and more and which doesn’t add to anyone’s quality of life.
“Sadly, I think it’s all about dollars and I think the health of the Country will take us in a direction that will be good for us …

“When the Country’s healthy, we’ll be healthy.”
Paul Coe agreed that communities should use the increased political focus on housing solutions to advocate for the ongoing inclusion of culture and respect for the health of the land.
“They do become a real tangible election issue as we’ve seen through Labor and the push federally around housing,” he said.
“The difficulty you have is around this lack of bipartisan approach on the key issues around housing. A four or three year cycle is never going to solve something so critical to that.
“The development opportunity, or how we go through that, is to, one, make sure that we have housing, and that we curate our land as much as possible and that has to take some time to work through and a sustained effort and focus from people.”

The Point airs Tuesdays 7.30 on NITV, and is available after the broadcast on SBS On Demand.

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