Antiseptic, I am not sure that I believe that someone making 80 grand a year remains eligible for state housing.

I see many really desperate people without suitable housing for medical reasons- with their Doctors virtually begging the Government housing department to find them a house. This takes ages to happen.

I have also seen some people who were originally living below the poverty line, and eventually got into a state housing home, only to find a good job and make something of themselves a few short years later.

If the Government were to say to people that they could only have a state housing home if they REMAIN on the breadline forever more is not really encouraging anyone to make an effort in finding better jobs and living conditions is it?

So I guess what I am saying is, good luck to them!
If I were to live in some of the awful state housing homes I have seen, I would be doing whatever it took to get out of them.

Anti I am no crawler you and I have clashed in the past.
And you do give your ex a bit here,BUT such women exist, certainly they do.
Suz believe me, please 80 grand is not the most some who live in public housing get.
It has become just one of hundreds of well intentioned welfare type things that harm the publics view of welfare.
Public housing, we do need more, should be two things, for the true needy, and to create more housing in tight markets.
Some, more than many want to hear, government employees rent the very best for peanuts.
We do better with pensioners single or not they have a better Chance but even sleep in parks [while not having to] to speed up allocation of a flat or unit.

Suzeonline:"I am not sure that I believe that someone making 80 grand a year remains eligible for state housing."

Technically, in Qld they become ineligible at $80k, but the policy is to allow up to $95k in household income before taking action.

Did you read the Age story?

Suzeonline:"If the Government were to say to people that they could only have a state housing home if they REMAIN on the breadline forever"

Do you read what is written before you post? The point of the high limit is to avoid just that poverty trap. I have already suggested that one way to improve things might be to look at the individual incomes within the house as well as the gross household income.

There is a big difference in the situation of (say) Mum, Dad and a grown child all bringing in $25k - $30k and an individual bringing in $80k. Still, neither should be subsidised.

Interesting that you are prepared to pay tax to support well-off single mothers to rort the system, but you won't support paying $5 a month in a child support levy that would alleviate some of the pressure on poverty-stricken single fathers. Nice work...

Belly, I reckon we see eye to eye on more than you might like to acknowledge.

Want to know the best part about my ex? She works as a Social Worker for Qld Health. One of her tasks is assisting old people to find supported accommodation. Nice, eh?

Nairbe:"As a single parent i have never applied for nor been interested in public housing. "

The best way for a single mother to secure preference in the process is to claim either violence makes her unable to work, or homelessness, as Belly points out.

As a self-employed person, you presumably are pretty self-reliant, so neither of those things will work for you. Oh yeah, you're male, as well.

Lexi, yes, it is grossly unfair. It is essentially a fraud against the State. Do you reckon there's ever been a prosecution for it?

Sometimes i am not sure if being male means there is a bias against us in this system or whether most of us that are in my situation as single parents do the usual male thing and don't ask for help. (can't comment for dad's who struggle with csa)
I am fortunate to have a very supportive family, makes all the difference. I try to stay away from the system but that is my underlying lack of trust in the system. My problem.
I know of four other single fathers in my area which is a small rural shire. I am sure there are more but those i know all work and pay their own way. This is not a put down of women as most of the Dad's are older and the greater majority of single mums you see are kid's. This is really a problem of it's own as the few older single mum's i know are also workers.

nairbe:"Sometimes i am not sure if being male means there is a bias against us in this system or whether most of us that are in my situation as single parents do the usual male thing and don't ask for help."

From my experience, most single dads are fiercely independent and pride themselves on doing the best they can with what they have. They don't seek handouts as a matter of course.

A great deal of that is to do with the selction process for becoming a single father. It usually involves onerous, expensive and debilitating Court proceedings. It often involves having to prove all sorts of things about one's fitness to the Court, which never seem to crop up for single mothers.

I think it also has a lot to do with our cultural perception of men as self-reliant individuals, vs the perception of women as poor helpless victims in need of protection.

I'd hazard a guess that you're not planning to grow old in Queensland, Antiseptic...

>>Want to know the best part about my ex? She works as a Social Worker for Qld Health. One of her tasks is assisting old people to find supported accommodation. Nice, eh?<<

You might find yourself in a humpy, someplace back o' Bourke...