“BARRIERS TO EMPLOYMENT”

Why jobs are hard to get if you live on the High Rise Estates in the City of Yarra.

A Research Project of the Ignatius Centre for Policy and Research

Jesuit Social Services

January 2003

David Holdcroft

Ignatius Centre for Social Policy and Research

371 Church Street, Richmond VIC 3121

(PO Box 271)

Tel 03 9427 7388

www.jss.org.au

CONTENTS

1. Scope and Purpose ……….3 2. Acknowledgements ……….4

3. Literature Review ……….5

3.1 Linking Housing and non housing outcomes 3.2 Changes in employment

4. Project Design/Method ………11

4.1 Aim 4.2 Specific Objectives 4.3 Method 4.4 Changes to Method

5. A Disadvantaged Community? ………14

5.1 The City of Yarra Estates 5.2 Community Profile 5.3 Linguistic and ethnic diversity 5.4 Length of Tenancy

6. The Interviews ………17

6.1 No single unemployed ‘population’ 6.2 Degree of enterprise 6.3 Need for social and economic integration 6.4 Changes in employment patterns 6.5 Public Housing contributes to integration 6.6 The role of non-standard employment forms 6.7 Capacities for employment 6.8 Barriers to employment -local

7. Discussion ………29 8. Recommendations ………31

9. References ………32

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1. Scope and Purpose The project set out to answer three questions:

1. What are the hopes and aspirations of the people of the unemployed populations on the City of Yarra High-Rise Estates with regard to employment?

2. How do they set about pursuing and fulfilling these aspirations and what barriers do they encounter along the way?

3. Are there any capacities for, or barriers to, employment peculiar to the High-Rise Estate communities and, if so, what can be done about them?

My research interest reflects an ongoing concern within Jesuit Social Services to understand better the processes involved in the continuation of social disadvantage and exclusion in specific areas, especially during a time of what is generally agreed to be strong economic performance at a State and National level. It has also been a time when Governments, both State and Federal, are reviewing their policy positions relating to social and economic disadvantage in the light of important changes that occurred in the employment market and the nature of work in the 1990s. It is thus a time of policy re-evaluation in the important areas of government income support for unemployed, disabled and other people, the performance of the Job Network scheme and other social supports and the future shape of, and funding for, public/social housing. A good understanding of the processes of social inclusion and exclusion, based upon experiential, as well as empirical, evidence is vital in order to be able to contribute to this policy development. The Office of Housing high-rise estates of Atherton Gardens (Fitzroy), Collingwood and Richmond, housing 5,500 people in all, form a gathering point for many of the practical consequences of these policy debates. They are situated within increasingly prosperous areas of inner city Melbourne, areas that have profited from economic restructuring and globalisation, yet containing populations which in the main seem to have missed out on these benefits: the estate communities remain some of the most disadvantaged in the state of Victoria. One does not have to look far for some of the reasons for this: tenant allocations policies introduced by the Kennett State Government and endorsed by the present Bracks’ Government (specifically the Segmented Waiting List) have resulted in concentrations of people with complex needs dependent upon government income support living on the estates. Recent Community Development, Tower Management and Neighbourhood Renewal initiatives have gone some way to alleviate the stress under which the communities have been placed as a result of these policies, but it is fair to say that there is still a long way to go before one could assert that these communities are healthy and more representative of the wider population: they remain under considerable stress. It is well recognised that the combined effects of complex and multiple needs, low educational attainment and unemployment are closely associated with processes giving rise to poverty, social exclusion and disadvantage. What is less well known, and is crucial in the context of the estates, is the manner in which new patterns of employment that have emerged in the Australian economy over the last ten years or so, particularly the lowering, relative to community standards, of minimum wages for full time semi skilled and unskilled work and the increase in importance of ‘non

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standard’ forms of employment (particularly part time and casual), have impacted upon these communities as a whole and especially the people within them who are of working age. These questions acquire somewhat greater urgency when one considers the gap identified in community and other agency service delivery between programs with a community development or welfare orientation situated on the estates and those with an educational and/or vocational focus, nearly all of which situated ‘off’ the estates. At the outset of the study, there seemed little coordination or communication between the two groups. Community Development workers across the three estates, in acknowledging this gap, also reported that, in their opinion, their work was missing some small but significant groups of tenants: one such group that was identified was unemployed males of working age. They expressed the desire for greater understanding of this group of people, their needs and aspirations, and the manner and extent to which they use the resources at their disposal. The purpose of the study is at once both practical and theoretical therefore. It is firstly to help facilitate quicker and more sustained tenant entry into jobs of their choice and to ensure that this move involves change to a life which they regard as more meaningful and of higher standard than the one they lived when they were unemployed. Partly this will be achieved through greater coordination of service response across different agencies working in the different service areas of welfare and education and employment. It is secondly to contribute to sound policy formation in the areas of welfare reform and social housing as it is evident, and now well recognised, that there are strong systemic barriers acting against some groups of people taking work and staying in work that they’ve taken. It is vital that responses in policy address these emerging issues. It may be stated at the outset that the geographical scope of the project was determined by the identification of the high-rise estates as communities distinguishable from those areas around them by their experiencing significant levels of social exclusion and disadvantage. It is not the principle focus of this study to look at issues surrounding social/public housing and the fact that these high-rise estates consist exclusively of households in public rental tenure did not form the principle criteria for embarking on the study. 2. Acknowledgements This project was conceived and implemented as a project of the Ignatius Centre of Policy and Research and as such owes its existence to the generous support provided by the Centre, under the direction of the Bernie Geary, the Director of Jesuit Social Services, and Father Peter Norden, the Policy Director of Jesuit Social Services. Tony Dalton, of RMIT University Department of the Constructed Environment, provided invaluable guidance while Cathy Guinness and the staff of Communities Together program of Jesuit Social Services, Alex Maggi, Aldo Malivisi, Kellie Nagle, Rosalind Vincent, Tinh Dinh, and Nguyen Mai Doan all provided practical on the ground support, in many cases acting as a first point of contact for interviewees.

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Additionally two third year students, Claire Picone, of the University of Melbourne Department of Political Science, and Do Phong, of the Victoria University Department of Community Development, provided invaluable assistance in interviewing, translation and wider housing policy research. Lastly, the core of this study centres around thirty interviews conducted with thirty-one estate residents in the period from September to December 2002. Whilst the interviews were conducted on an anonymous basis, I wish to acknowledge and note my appreciation for the most generous way in which the interviewees entered into the research process. It is to them and their children that this project is dedicated.

3. Literature Review The research questions outlined above touch on a number of linked policy and research areas. For this reason the literature review is grouped under two headings. 3.1 Linking housing and non housing outcomes Research into housing and its relation to non-housing outcomes, particularly to employment, has a relatively long history in Australia. One of the most influential early studies was a survey undertaken with the residents of Newtown, a broad-acre public housing estate in outer suburban Melbourne, in 1966. Researchers revisited the area in 1991, thus creating the basis for a longitudinal study of the locality and its social and economic context (Bryson and Winter 1999). The study is significant in a number of ways. Firstly, it well demonstrates changes in patterns of employment/unemployment that have taken place in Australia in the last decades of the Twentieth Century. Thus the residents in the 1960s were for the large part people who worked in skilled or semi skilled trades, on low incomes and employed in the manufacturing industries based in the local area. 1990s Newtown, by contrast, hosted greatly increased levels of unemployment and a marked decrease in the proportion of those employed in the skilled trades with a smaller increase in the proportion of workers in ‘higher-level’ occupations (such as managers, administrators and professionals). The majority of workers still working were in low skilled jobs in the manufacturing sector, thus making the Newtown workforce exposed to the continued decline of this industry (Bryson & Winter 1999, p. 212). Notably, there was no information as to the kinds of employment to which 1991 Newtown residents aspired. Secondly, the findings reflect the historical shift in the role of social housing in Victoria, and in Australia generally, from that of provision of accommodation to a wide social group (namely low income workers servicing the expanding manufacturing industries of the 1950s) to one of residual welfare, with social housing policies targeted towards accommodation for people more likely to be unemployed, to

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be dependent on government for their income and to present with multiple and complex needs. While these policy shifts may be of themselves laudable, they arguably have not taken into account the future employment needs of residents: in the case of the City of Yarra estates the shifts in policy are based upon use of the same housing stock built on the presumption of resident employment in the local manufacturing industry of the 1960s. Thus the study found that, in 1966, many residents were using public housing rental as a step towards other tenure types, notably home ownership, while their income profile was indistinguishable from that of the majority of Australian home purchasers of the time. In 1991, by contrast, Newtown residents were less likely to aspire to, let alone be capable of, home ownership (Bryson and Winter 1999, pp. 212-213). It may be added that relatively easy access to home ownership, facilitated by low relative housing costs as well as through government subsidy, has traditionally formed a means of amelioration of inequalities arising in the labour market in Australia. Home ownership generally results in low housing costs in later life and thus is a means of avoiding poverty. In addition, it has formed a way that families can leave a substantial inheritance to their children as well as marking a significant capital diversion in working years to an asset which appreciates in value (Winter and Stone 1998, 1). Thus the Newtown study confirms evidence that this ‘traditional’ method of social redistribution seems to be breaking down as overall less people find themselves able to access home ownership. The reasons for this have been identified as a combination of changing household composition (with a large increase in single adult households) and changes in patterns of employment towards part time and non-standard forms of employment. One other finding of the Newtown study is worth noting in the present context. While material standards of the residents in the 1990s were in general superior to those of the 1960s, the expectations of the community in Newtown surrounding the amount of income regarded as sustaining a decent standard of living had risen. This, when combined with greater levels of unemployment and reduced employment conditions, has resulted in families reporting increased levels of financial stress in 1991. The ‘vanishing middle’ of Newtown’s income levels has led to, “ a much greater sense of desperation, insecurity, pessimism and fear for the future in keeping with the relative reduction in the economic circumstances of the families compared with the 1960s” (Bryson & Winter 1999, pp. 212-213). Whilst the Newtown study generally predates much of the recent development in policy thinking surrounding poverty, spatially based disadvantage and social exclusion, it does neatly paint the rise of a community experiencing a number of convergent processes resulting in a general picture of deprivation, with “high levels of unemployment, generally reduced financial circumstances, including much poverty and an absence of optimism” (Bryson & Winter 1999, p. 211). The relation between poverty, disadvantage and specific geographic localities was first raised in several studies conducted in Australian in the 1970s, which demonstrated high correlations of medico-social problems and spatial concentration (Vincent, Homel 1975; see Vinson 1999). In 1994 Jane Jacobs and Natalie Jamieson

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studied the links between social disadvantage and geographic area in a study of the Atherton Gardens (Fitzroy) high-rise public housing estate. This study proposed use of a ‘cultural perspective’ to understand the continuation of disadvantage on the estate, an area identifiable by the physical nature of the buildings themselves and their surrounds as well as by residential type (public housing tenancy). In this view, the cause of spatially identified social disadvantage is more likely to be the manner in which a community (in this case the State of Victoria) deals with the consequences of economic restructuring, rather than economic restructuring itself:

the making of social difference is always also about the way place is socially constituted. So, in the case of the high rise, it is possible to see that the attitudes towards this housing type worked to produce the (re)marginalisation of the people who lived there (Jamieson & Jacobs, 1996, p. 76).

In this way, socially constructed differences and material disadvantage tend to reinforce one another in creating and entrenching disadvantage within a particular locality. At the same time Wilkinson was drawing similar links in the United Kingdom:

Anything which increases the tensions and difficulties of family life will decrease tolerance and increase conflict, thereby adding to the numbers of children with behavioural problems and learning difficulties, and to those who at older ages are more likely to be unemployed and to be involved in drugs and crime….(Wilkinson 1998, quoted in Vinson 1999, p. 2).

A study of inner-Sydney unemployed youth likewise confirmed the contention that as an area becomes poor residents have fewer social networks, fewer role models for working life and resulting in less access to work (Vinson, Abela, Hutka 1998). The recognition of locality linked social disadvantage formed the methodological basis of Tony Vinson’s survey of social disadvantage in Victoria and New South Wales (Vinson 1999). He used variables that “self evidently represent restrictions on life opportunities and the attainment of wellbeing” to construct an indicator of cumulative disadvantage relating to a particular postcode areas (Vinson 1999, p.1). In this manner, postcode areas of both states could be easily compared and assessed for disadvantage. The 1990s too saw the concept of social capital put forward as a key factor in understanding and therefore working to ameliorate spatial concentrations of disadvantage. In this thinking social capital, here defined as “the norms and networks that enable people to act collectively”, represents a resource potential within communities that can be capitalised on in order to promote social inclusion (Winter 2000, p. 1). Thus social relations of a particular quality and nature are central to creating sustainable communities. Social relationships, which are characterised by high degrees of mutual trust and reciprocity, are argued to sustain better outcomes in the economy, democracy and civil society. These sorts of social relationships are said to be laden with social capital (Winter 2000, p. 1).

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The Social Capital “thesis” has formed the theoretical basis for man of the urban /neighbourhood renewal initiatives, including those recently undertaken at Atherton Gardens Estate in Fitzroy. More recently, several studies have questioned the value of the concept of social capital. A study by Patrick Mullins and John Western of public housing in Brisbane found that public housing tenants, while remaining the most disadvantaged of the different tenure groups in the area studied, were also found to live in the strongest communities and to maintain strong local ties within those communities (Mullins and Western 2001, 27). They see that, with some irony, these strong local ties may have their origins in disadvantage and thus not prove a critical factor in solving key problems:

There may be more fundamental factors such as job skills that would help overcome these problems…..disadvantage is likely to be a product of a complex series of more fundamental factors, particularly the householders’ generally disadvantaged position, which would have made them eligible for housing assistance…...it would seem wise to tackle the root cause of disadvantage if improvements in non housing outcomes are to be made…. Necessary action would need to relate to…job skills/education, behavioural changes (eg re health), and ways of changing values (eg valuing education specifically and intellectual work in particular) (Mullins and Western 2001, pp. 27-28).

Similarly, Randolph has criticised the social capital approach to neighbourhood renewal as ignoring the concept of place and locality in the definition of community renewal as well as failing to engage with the role of distribution of economic (income, capital and personal) resources (Randolph 2000, pp. 3-4). He suggests use of the concepts of social exclusion/inclusion as a helpful way forward, as this emphasises the interconnectedness of the processes of disadvantage:

…with an implicit recognition of the role that localities play in forging patterns of social disadvantage. Policy responses framed in terms of social exclusion/inclusion therefore tend to stress the problems of places rather than just those of individuals and families. (Randolph 2000, p. 4)

Social exclusion thus can be defined as, “the processes by which individuals and their communities become polarised, socially differentiated and unequal, together with the rapid social changes that disrupt traditional forms of social cohesion (Barry 1998, quoted in Saunders 2001, p. 188). It is to be distinguished from poverty and from unemployment though clearly the three states are linked. One important implication from this is that, while some public housing clearly links to disadvantage, the relationship cannot be seen in isolation from other factors, and therefore cannot be regarded as causal. The missing ‘factor’ that both studies point to is the ability of people within disadvantaged areas to engage more widely in mainstream economic and social

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activity as a means of negotiating their way out of disadvantage. A crucial part of this, in turn, is the manner in which such people engage in the employment market. Whilst these studies reflect the overall place of public housing tenants in spatially defined disadvantage, there was a need to study how the people within these areas perceive and use their environment and the employment potential and resources within that environment. It is clear that any policy response must, in working to overcome social exclusion, take a locality specific approach which in turn uses as its starting point the perceptions and resources, human and other, already available within such local communities. 3.2 Changes in employment The effects of unemployment on individuals, family units and communities are generally well documented. The most immediate effect of unemployment on individuals is to “deprive people of their principle source of income, increasing the risk of poverty and contributing to increased inequality” (Saunders 2002, p. 175). At the same time, allowing for other factors, unemployed people and their families suffer a substantially increased risk of illness and premature death, these effects themselves linked to various psychological consequences and financial problems, including debt (Vinson 1999, p. 9). Among the psychological consequences are a number of effects to do with the construction of one’s identity, some of the principle sources of which, namely one’s status as both consumer and worker, are severely limited or absent (Saunders 2002, p. 175). These two principle effects, namely lack of money and loss of identity are repeated at a family level also, emphasising that unemployment is a process whose influence is communal and not merely individual. (Taylor 2002, p. 66). For the same reason it must be said that while unemployment significantly increases the risk of falling into poverty it does not automatically lead there. Where family income is such as to place the family in poverty, unemployment of one or more parent or guardians severely limits the resources necessary for promoting healthy growth. Unemployment is more likely for a young person growing up in a household dependent upon social security and can likewise have a profoundly debilitating and long lasting effects upon identity formation. Brenda Tait, in a study of a small group of unemployed people in Melbourne questions the effect that underemployment and unemployment have upon identity formation in young people moving to adulthood. She affirms the connection between educational attainment and employment but adds that social relationships associated with working life and routine structure of work and leisure become foreign to people who are underemployed or unemployed. These factors influence the way in which work itself is viewed: one’s identity structure changes from one that is work generated to one that is consumer generated (Tait, 2001, p. 10). Lastly at a community level, there are sound reasons “to expect high levels of unemployment to be associated with increased poverty, greater inequality and more exclusion” as, “unemployment denies people access not only to paid work, but also to the income required to participate in other ways”. (Saunders 2002, p191)

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Whilst discussion has hitherto referred to the effects of unemployment with some reference to those of underemployment, it is important to take into account the changing trends of employment in Australia. Watson and Buchanon identify the stagnation of relative numbers of people in full time employment over the 1990s and the ‘conversion’ of full time, permanent jobs (standard employment) into non-standard forms of employment (casual and part time) with attendant erosion of earnings potential. (Watson and Buchanon 2001, pp. 197-198; see also Borland, Gregory and Sheehan in Borland et al., 2001). In the 1990s there has been a growth in the instance of low paid service sector work among males and a sharp growth of low paid jobs within the service sector overall. Importantly, growth in casual and part time positions work did not translate into permanent full time jobs for low skilled workers but rather served to enforce greater income inequality (Watson & Buchanon 2001, p. 203, 216). Watson and Buchanon have postulated the growth of a large underemployed reserve ‘army’ of labour which presence continues to exert downward pressure on above average wage rates by the continued threat to replace higher paid workers with cheaper and more desperate workers of this ‘reserve’ (Watson and Buchanon 2001, p. 203). Against this background, a number of studies have looked at the way unemployment has affected various groups. In 1993 Jackson and Crooks looked at the experience of unemployment in the eyes of 112 people who were interviewed in a small group setting. Whilst the thrust of the study concerned the experience of unemployment itself, there was some attention given to the future, with most participants seeing themselves as employed in the future, and wanting stable and secure employment which would provide adequately for themselves and their families (see Taylor 2002, p. 73). In 1995, Tony Vinson conducted a survey on the Waterloo Public Housing Estate in Sydney assessing barriers to employment among the residents there, at the same time looking at the context of local work opportunities, many of which were provided by the largest employer in the local area, Qantas (Vinson 1996). His focus was on the specific problem of employment opportunities for housing tenants relative to where jobs are located. Neither study therefore explored the aspirations of tenants in the context of these larger economic trends. Both were conducted on the premise of full time work available and neither looked at the effect of underemployment nor of part time and other non standard forms of work practice. Indeed, little is known, concerning the effects of part time and non-standard work within populations that are already socially disadvantaged. Likewise very little is known about the manner in which people who can be statistically identified as living in areas of social disadvantage construct such issues, the manner in which they deal with their own aspirations and hopes and the barriers they identify as prohibiting the realisation of these goals. It was soon realised in the present study that issues surrounding part time, casual and informal work are crucial to the understanding of the world with which these people deal.

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4. Project Design and Method

The original Project Design was as follows:

4.1 Aim: To create a comprehensive picture of the nature(s) and characteristics

of the unemployed population on the 3 high rise estates in the City of Yarra in relation to employment issues.

4.2 Specific Objectives:

1. To gain a better understanding of the employment opportunities open to the unemployed people of the estates through:

• Identification of individual and collective barriers to employment and associated vocational and educational programs.

• Identification of strengths and capacities for employment within this population

2. To evaluate existing and proposed vocational programs in the light of the above findings

3. To identify further strategies that will contribute to tenants’ increased access to and participation in the workforce.

4.3 Method:

1. Literature review identifying

• issues associated with employment patterns of public housing tenants and creative responses both within Australia and also overseas.

• Research into housing and non housing outcomes • Identification of structural and local factors that affect access of tenants

to employment and strategies that have been employed elsewhere to mitigate these factors.

• Employment market trends to gauge short, medium and long-term opportunities for sustainable employment. Particular reference will be given to local initiatives undertaken by Office of Housing, City of Yarra and others.

2. Develop a demographic and employment ‘profile’ of residents on the estates

based upon key indicators affecting employment opportunities. This will include information about:

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• General demography eg age, number and age of dependent children, ethnicity &c.

• Educational attainment, skills and qualifications. • Current employment status, how long in or out of work. • Employment history and experience. • Aims for employment • Requirements for employment eg child care, travel &c • Length of residence to assess transience

3. Identification of barriers to employment of residents at the three estates

through, firstly, in-depth semi-structured interviews with a range of unemployed tenants. These will look at local issues and factors such as employment history, experiences of education and work, effects of educational attainment and identification of other relevant factors.

Secondly, interviews will be held with community groups and other agencies working on the estates, including:

• Community Empowerment Program and other responses targeted to this population.

• Pathways to employment North Richmond Community Health Centre • JPET Job Placement Employment and Training Program • Office of Housing • Reach for the Clouds/ Swinburne University • Brotherhood of Saint Laurence • Communities Together • Collingwood Neighbourhood House • Belgium Avenue Community House • Other relevant community and tenant advocacy groups

The aim here is twofold: Firstly it is to identify capacities and barriers as identified by the tenants themselves. The second is to gain information about what has happened on the estates in regard to employment/ vocational programs in the past and to thus gain agency insights in the light of the above questions

4. Recommendations of strategies to increase access to and participation in the

labour market by unemployed estate tenants. This will include evaluative comment of the Communities Together Program of Jesuit Social Services.

Employment is taken as contributing to the generation of social and networking capital within a community and is thus regarded as a crucial plank in the overcoming of entrenched social as well as economic disadvantage. 4.4 Changes to Method A number of methodological questions arose during the course of the project. The first of these was how to make contact with the residents in receipt of Newstart

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allowance, knowing that every choice taken would affect the nature of the resident sample. Accordingly two choices were made. The first is that we would attempt to target representatives from the two major ethnic groups on each estate, judged by their preferred language at home. These groupings corresponded to English and Vietnamese speaking people for the Atherton Gardens and Dight Street Estates, and Vietnamese and English speaking for the Elizabeth Street Estate. We also recognised that significant other ethnic minorities existed on two of the three estates, namely Chinese speakers at Atherton Gardens and Chinese (Haka) speaking at Elizabeth Street. Alone among the groups approached, the Haka speaking group at Elizabeth Street declined as a group to be interviewed. These people, from East Timor, were highly suspicious of any process that involved interviews. Some were reported as still suffering effects of trauma and torture and would find any interview process extremely stressful. As negotiations were being held to arrange a meeting with an intermediary to speak on behalf of the group, the news came through that the Department of Immigration, Indigenous and Multi-cultural Affairs had issued deportation orders for some 800 East Timorese people throughout Australia, the vast majority of whom lived in Richmond: perhaps understandably, these negotiations were abruptly halted. The second decision that was made was to attempt to contact potential interviewees in two ways. The first was by use of advertisements, in English and Vietnamese, placed around the estates, and secondly through direct approaches made by the Community Development workers to people judged to be suitable on each estate. It was hoped that the possible drawback in accessing people in this manner would be balanced by the randomness of others responding to widely placed advertisements. The centre of the project thus was thirty interviews and one group meeting conducted with residents across the three estates during the months of September, October, November and December 2002. The stated criteria for participants were that they must be in receipt of New Start Allowance and must be living on one of the three high-rise estates. We allowed for some flexibility in meeting these criteria in a small number of cases, as we came to realise that the so called New Start population was in reality fluid: one interviewee stated that she was in the process of moving on to a parenting payment on advice from her Job Network provider, another stated that he was moving into studies and his benefit would alter accordingly. A number of residents had applications in to move away from the estates and two did in fact do so between the time we contacted them and the interview itself. We also interviewed two people on youth allowance who were in the process of looking for work. It was felt that these variations were indicative of the group as a whole and would not alter the substance of the research in any significant manner. Such fluidity raises the important question of the actual numbers of unemployed people. It suggest that statistics under-represent the actual numbers of people who regard and identify themselves as either unemployed or underemployed. Additionally, during the course of the project the opportunity came up to interview a number of Community Jobs Program participants. These are people who have been unemployed and contract to undertake a 14-week employment preparation course run in this case by the Brotherhood of Saint Laurence. The particular innovation of the

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Atherton Gardens CJP is the guarantee of employment with the Office of Housing on the Atherton Gardens Estate at the successful conclusion of the course. There were 12 participants in this course, of whom 7 were residents on the estate: as we had already interviewed some people who had applied for the program unsuccessfully, it was decided to interview the successful estate based applicants, so as to set up a basis for comparison and also to explore issues concerning the transfer back into the full time workforce after a period of unemployment. It was originally intended to record each interview on tape, however resident feedback during an introductory meeting led to the adoption of a strategy of offering the residents a choice of recording or noting their interview. Of the thirty interviews, seven were recorded. The interviews were conducted on condition of anonymity. Each participant was given thirty-five dollars at the conclusion of the interview.

5. A Disadvantaged Community? The City of Yarra Estates are characterised by high levels of unemployment and non government income, by ethnic and linguistic diversity and high rates of resident turnover. It is thus fair to describe these communities as a whole as disadvantaged and socially excluded. 5.1 The City of Yarra High Rise Estates The City of Yarra high rise Estates were built as part of a slum reclamation schemes instituted by the then Housing Commission Victoria and carried out between 1962 and 1976. The construction of the estates was originally heavily promoted as a socially progressive vision and solution to entrenched problems associated with poverty and poor accommodation within the inner working class suburbs of Melbourne. Early resident protests were ignored perhaps because the economic benefits of an increasing rate paying population within the inner city had been noted (see Jamieson & Jacobs 1994). The City of Yarra in turn contains the highest number of high-rise apartments of any Victorian municipality and the equal highest percentage of high-rise stock to total public housing (54%). It is noteworthy that the high-rise estates were conceived as housing estates, probably on the assumption that the resultant tenant communities would be mixed enough to ensure sustainability. Because the resident buy back schemes never applied to the high-rise, the estates have retained a kind of conceptual homogeneity that places such as Newtown have long since lost: the high-rise estates remain very much within the management and policy area of the Office of Housing.

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Unlike other areas with high-rise public housing, all such stock within the City of Yarra was designed for mixed household use –there are no units designed specifically for older people (McNelis 2001, p. 8). The City of Yarra thus hosts three Office of Housing high rise Estates. Overall household and population numbers have decreased upon previous numbers owing to housing renovation programs in operation across two of the estates: Estate Number of Towers Number of

households Population

Atherton Gardens (Fitzroy)

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707

1,475

Collingwood 3 514 989 Richmond 5 982 2,063 Source: Office of Housing, March 2002 5.2 Community Profile The community profile of the three estates is both diverse and shows marked variation from that of the City of Yarra as a whole: Atherton

Gardens Collingwood Richmond City of Yarra*

Population 1,475 989 2,063 68,018 (2001)

Aged under 17 years

33.1% 30.0% 30.2% 15.1%

Australian born (household)

18.1% 25.6% 9.4% 61.5% (2001) by population

English preferred language (household)

42.9% 52.8% 31.3% 62.5%

Income <$299/week (household)

46.6% 49.4% 42.9% 19.8%

Single parent household

28.1% 27.6% 25.9% N/A

New Start Allowance

24.3% 25.5% 20.5% 10.0%**

*Figures from 1996 census unless stated otherwise **Unemployed, looking for fulltime work Source: Office of Housing, March 2002; ABS, 1996, 2001 The high-rise estates can be distinguished from the surrounding areas by the relative youthfulness of their population, the high degree of ethnic and linguistic diversity,

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associated with a lower percentage of Australian born people. They also have much lower rates of non government income giving rise to lower income levels overall, and lastly significantly higher rates of unemployed people. 5.3 Linguistic and Cultural Diversity All three Yarra Estates host a high degree of linguistic and ethnic diversity, this indicating a number of potential barriers to employment: Preferred language -by Household

English Vietnamese

Chinese*

Turkish Other

Atherton Gardens

42.9% 33.2% 10.7% 3.1% 10.1% 100.00%

Collingwood 52.7% 28.8% 3.3% 6.0% 9.2% 100.00%Richmond 31.3% 35.9% 24.6% 2.3% 5.9% 100.00%City of Yarra

62.5%

7.2%

5.9%

1.0%

23.4%

100.00%

*Chinese languages include Chinese, Cantonese and Mandarin Source: Office of Housing, March 2002; ABS, 1996. 5.4 High turnover rates of tenants While all three estates have a high turn over of residents, Atherton Gardens and Collingwood have particularly large concentrations of tenancies of less than one year’s duration. In the case of Atherton Gardens it is particularly interesting to compare the figures for May 2002 and those of 1995, added in brackets in the table below: Length of Tenancy

Less than One Year

One to Three Years

Three to Six Years

Six to Ten Years

Ten Years or More

Atherton Gardens

22.8% (12.1%)

19.0% (22.4%)

20.8% (24.7%)

15.1% (17.2%)

22.3% (23.6%)

100.00% (100.00%)

Collingwood 21.9% 27.4% 21.6% 13.2% 15.9% 100.00% Richmond 14.8% 19.8% 19.9% 22.3% 23.2% 100.00% Source: Office of Housing March 2002, 1995 At least some of the cause of the huge increase in tenancies of less than one year must be attributed to the introduction of the segmented waiting list allocation system for public tenancies. In turn these high rates of transience may both indicate and be associated with potential barriers to employment.

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6. The Interviews 6.1 No single unemployed ‘population’ Perhaps the most obvious finding from the interviews was that, apart from statistical convenience, there is little basis upon which to talk about one unemployed ‘population’ on the City of Yarra high rise estates. Whilst the interview ‘sample’ of thirty-one people drawn from across the three estates cannot be regarded as statistically significant, nevertheless some comments about the group as a whole are pertinent in order gain a picture of the people on the estate who were interviewed and who describe themselves as unemployed. Of the thirty-one people interviewed, twenty-two were male and nine were female. Of these, six men and five women reported living on the estates with their children. Regarding ethnicity, of the thirty interviews given, approximately half were with people whose country of birth lay outside Australia. The vast majority of these were Vietnamese in origin, but even this statistic was not straightforward. Thus the majority of the Vietnamese people interviewed cited their place of birth as being Cho Lon area of Ho Chi Minh City. Nearly all of these people said on enquiry that the language spoken at home was Chinese (Cantonese). They saw themselves as an ethnic minority within Vietnam and to an extent continue to do so in Australia, thus raising questions concerning the nature of their experience of resettlement. Other people born outside Australia cited Greece, Lebanon, New Zealand, Chile, Eritrea and the Pacific Island countries as their country of origin. Most of the non-Australian born had been in Australia more than ten years, the exceptions being three participants who had moved to Australia within the last five years. Additionally, two interviewees reported that they were children of immigrants, one of whom had grown up on a City of Yarra high-rise estate, to which she now had returned as an adult. It is also worthy to note that not all overseas born people came to Australia as refugees or on humanitarian grounds. Two people reported having come to Australia under skilled migration schemes, while two more came under various family reunion categories. Many of these people cited the inadequacy of their English skills as a continuing cause of concern and a barrier to employment. This group however contained a huge variation in levels of educational attainment, suggesting that strategies to address this shortfall would differ widely across the group. This variation in educational attainment continued across the group of those interviewed as a whole. Three people reported that they had tertiary university qualifications, of whom one had applied for a postgraduate course. A further seven described themselves as having completed Year 12 or equivalent: three of these had

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dropped out of university while one was in the process of applying for her first university course. Some eight interviewees described themselves as having a low (primary school) level of educational attainment, though most spoke of this as being adequate preparation for the life they had expected to lead in their country of origin. The remainder had some degree of secondary education. Twenty-five of the people interviewed had taken up some kind of education option within the last five years, the nature of which varied from university to TAFE courses and/or courses in English as a second language. This suggests both a high level of motivation (no doubt encouraged by Centrelink/Job Network Providers) and the recognition of the value of ongoing education.

Five people interviewed spoke of themselves as having significant issues around drug use influencing their present search for employment. One of these said that he feared he was “hitting the bottle too much”, the other four spoke of past heroin, and/or poly drug use. Two of these people reported being on ongoing methadone maintenance therapy. Interestingly, only two of these people cited drug use as a factor affecting previous employment or contributing to the loss of a job. Just under half of the interview sample (fifteen) reported that they were living with a partner with or without children. The remainder were single, with the majority of these living in a shared arrangement with family members. A small minority of interviewees said that they lived alone. The reported ages of interviewees ranged from nineteen to forty-seven with a mean of around thirty-four and median in the thirty-five to forty-four age group. This varies slightly from the overall estate demographic, which is younger overall, and could be the result of a number of factors such as the fact that we did not interview any children. The slightly raised median may suggest a slightly greater likelihood of people in that age group to engage in both the community development networks and in the specific interview process associated with this study.

Finally it became clear during the course of the interviews that, in residents’ perceptions, conditions and standard of living varies across the three City of Yarra Estates, with at least one resident expressing a desire to move to another high rise estate so as to access the Community Jobs Program he had heard about there (Interview 4). Comment was also passed comparing the security arrangements on each estate, which were broadly seen as being superior on one estate.

6.2 Degree of enterprise The most fundamental and in some way surprising impression to come from the interviews was, simply, the degree of perseverance, enterprise and skill that the vast majority of interviewees demonstrated in dealing with their living situation, that is, in dealing with the issues raised by living on the estate, in their search and strategies for

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gaining employment and in their management of the financial resources at their disposal. In the judgement of this researcher, residents’ overall self-assessment of their capabilities and prospects for employment seemed realistic and not overblown. At the same time their self identified capacities, though untested by such a research process, appeared consonant with the description they provided of their abilities and their work histories. In short, the stories ‘held together’. What I describe as enterprise presented in a number of different ways. For some it formed the willingness to undertake volountary work in order to facilitate, among other things, the learning of Australian business culture in preparation for paid employment: I would like to work in hospitality. I applied for a job at Crown Casino. I got

an interview. Even though I got experience I may be too old. I don’t feel confident. I need to improve my English. If I can’t get a job straight away, I will do volountary work. Then I kill two birds with one stone: I get to know the administration system in Australia [as well as learn English]. It is quite different from what we do in Vietnam…. I do volounteer work for [agency name]. I do a bit of everything: data entry, filing, the enquiry counter. I get to know the practice of the workplace. (Interview 26)

For another it formed the taking of a university Certificate course, despite feeling older than the remainder of the class and having to negotiate a return to study:

In the beginning it was very daunting…. After the first time [lecture] I ran off. But I didn’t want to run out you know. Done that earlier on. Young people there at the course. I persevere. It’s harder to study than when you’re younger -harder to absorb info when you’re my age. I know it takes me twice as long to do homework as the others. A few weeks ago, I got ninety three per cent for a paper. I was rapt. It was an incentive to keep going…(Interview 3)

This perseverance extended to what seems like extreme efforts to gain work:

One time he came to the sock factory. A person employed there said, “Why you come here so often?” Even when there is no vacancy he wants to make the impression he really needs a job there….(Interviewee:) ”I got friends who work in the factory –they are good workers. Employer go to worker, ‘I have a vacancy. Do you know of anyone?’” (translation:) He just came to the factory [in order to get chosen]. They got annoyed. (translation and interviewee, Interview 9)

In another interview this perseverance was expressed ‘negatively’, in the form of frustration at the perceived lack of flexibility of the local job network provider to provide the interviewee with satisfactory employment opportunities:

They [the job network provider] told me they have nothing for science. They only provide hospitality and cleaning –mainly. No. Not very helpful. I look for jobs on the internet and in The Age. I also have a friend looking for me internally…(Interview 2)

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6.3 Need for social and economic integration The overwhelming impression of the interviews was one of residents wanting to work:

After that, he tried looking for several jobs. He phoned for application forms. He went home and waited and waited but there was no call. He would go anywhere and do anything. He would go to a meat factory. He would try everything…. He came to the CES and asked them for help but they weren’t useful….They also give him a card with the address of employers. They would see him and interview, but they don’t accept him. Why? He says there is no job. (translation, Interview 9)

The reasons for wanting to work varied. Residents expressed the difficulty in making ‘ends meet’ while being on New Start and this was an important motivation in attempting to gain work:

He has been without work for the last few years. He would like [daughter’s name] to go to school. It is important for him to give his daughters a good education. In a secondary school, for one year there is $2000 in school fees. The government money is just enough to live on now. It’s not enough for his daughter’s education. (translation, Interview 7)

Associated with the lack of money were restrictions inherent in reliance upon government income support:

It’s a plus [getting a job]. It can’t not be, you know, well you can make it not be a plus [but] I’m trying my damned hardest like, you know, it’s got to be ‘cause, mate, you can’t, you can’t do anything when you’re on Centrelink payments. You can’t do anything. I mean you can’t have something go wrong mate. It happens all the time when you’re on the dole, on Centrelink or whatever …(Interview 22)

As well as lack of money and restrictions in lifestyle, lack of security while on New Start and accepting part-time/casual work was a concern: I done a few odd jobs through an agency, but it’s not steady enough. ….At the

moment it’s two, maybe three days a week sometimes, sometimes two, sometimes one, and I -the unstability is the part that I don’t like and me and my girlfriend are a bit worried about the future too and with a new born… (Interview 30)

Several residents talked of the social and other benefits of having a job. This varies from the benefits for the relationship with a partner, to the gaining of a sense of self-esteem, to a means of attaining personal goals after a time of crisis: Now I’ve been out of work for over 12 months. It’s the longest ever. It gets to

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you after a while. You’re at home. You get itchy feet. You have to go out and do something. I used to come here [the Community Centre] a lot. It’s not easy living together here. You’re on top of each other the whole day. You got to go out and do something. [Partner’s name] and I get on well though. We work at it. It’s not easy but we get on real well. The social side -I miss that. Work’s a fact of life. Working is normal….You start to lose confidence without a job (Interview 3) …the respect that you get out of being in the work environment –people respect you more if you work. (Interview 11)

The first step is accommodation. The second step is… work. The Office of Housing will get to know me. It’s a foot in the door. (Interview 24)

Still another interview talked of an explicit link between their unemployment, poverty and social exclusion:

He used to have a lot of friends, but since he has had no job he got poorer. Then his wife left. Nobody visits you when you’re poor. (translation, Interview 4)

The place of volountary work as a means of developing and maintaining skills and motivation, and as a way of keeping in contact with a wider network of people, was prominent in a number of interviews: I could do a fitness instructor’s course or a gym instructor’s course. I do some

volounteering at the [name] gym. From 5 to 8 on weeknights. (Interview 24) See 6.2 above, Interview 26. 6.4 Changes in employment patterns Reasons for having left the most recent job varied. A number of residents spoke of a time of transition from study: Well I done my Certificate 2 in 2000, and then Certificate 4 this year. I was

getting an extra $65 a fortnight [on top of New Start]….[I haven’t looked for work] ‘cause I just not long finished the course and they said after Christmas they’ll do it. By then I might have my own…’cause I want to own my own business (Interview 28).

Some five residents had decided to take a package and, lacking any long-term strategies, found themselves looking for work not long afterwards. This may have been associated with a time of crisis:

I was there and I ended up losing my licence sort of and just went “Bugger it” –got offered a bit of a pay out and took that. After that I haven’t done much. (Interview 22)

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Still others had been laid off and spoke of the decline of the local manufacturing industry: Now there are a lot of factories closed down in Collingwood and Richmond.

The wages are too high and a lot of factories close down. It is a big problem. He tries and tries very hard, but there are no jobs available for him. From last year he has been unemployed. (translation, Interview 9)

I used to find work a lot through the old Centre-…the CES, but not through

Centrelink anymore. I don’t know what’s happened there but anyway they just cut a lot of work out, but for whatever reason you know they’d interview about fifty people for a labouring job you know whereas before they’d ring you up –you’d leave your name there and they’d say “aw yeah” and they’d ring you up if someone needed a person to unload a truck or a trailer full of furniture that’s come in from Asia or something and we’d go out and do that. “Can you work? Can you start in the morning?” Just report here. That’s all dried up. (Interview 20)

6.5 Public Housing contributes to integration Of the thirty-one people interviewed, some seven interviewees mentioned specifically the role of public housing in enabling them to recover from a crisis that included a time of homelessness:

It was easy to get a flat because we were homeless. We were in a caravan before that, but it was filthy, there was nicotine dripping off the roof. It was $120 a week, $170 including the both of us…We haven’t got anywhere before here. (Interview 6)

I’ve been on the estate for 7 months. I had been looking for a home –I was actually in a crisis centre. It’s definitely a good move –if I wasn’t on the estate I would still be out there…I had a lot of personal issues. I needed it: otherwise I would have been on the street with a baby coming up….we needed a stable home. (Interview 24)

We got put in a situation where we were pretty desperate, so we lived in a hostel, I think for about 6 weeks, and here and there for a couple of months more, and then we got this place. (Interview 22)

We lived with [partner’s name]’s Mum….She got a flat there. She was on heroin. We brought our TV, video and all that around. You know expensive stuff. But she was with a guy who was doing heroin. He stole it all, so we finally got our own place. We had to wait 6 months. (Interview 5)

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Perhaps a surprising element was a significant number of comments expressing contentment with the estates as a mode of accommodation in the main appropriate to their present needs. Residents cited proximity to shops, banks and medical facilities as well as good access to public transport as reasons for this contentment. For one resident additionally, the view from his flat rated highly:

It’s clear now. You can see the city especially at night. You’d pay for theview. The other way –towards the hills- would be just as beautiful, but I like looking at the city. (Interview 14)

[Partner’s name] likes the inner city. Grew up in the country. Won’t go back there. In the city she doesn’t need a car. There’s transport. She has access to shops, everything. (Interview 3)

The area’s wonderful [to live in]. The city’s close, convenient. There’s good transport. My girlfriend has a car. I don’t need it. (Interview 5)

As for the area as such I love the area I like it –they’re close -the bank, the supermarket, the doctors, milk bar. You don’t need a car. I find myself half the time on the tram. (Interview 30)

Positive comments extended to fellow tenants in at least three interviews. Perhaps remarkable was a the absence of any comments indicating friction between ethnic or other groups:

People here are doing their best. (translation, Interview 4)

Generally the security situation is perceived to have vastly improved in the last year, particularly with the introduction of concierge arrangements on two of the three high-rise estates studied:

When I first came it was shocking. There were people outside fighting, punching, everything. It’s good now. You can walk around and nobody bothers you. (Interview 26)

I can say categorically there’s no dealers in our block. Well I probably can’t

say that for sure, but I can say there’s definitely none on our level. (Interview 30)

It’s the sort of formality of signing in and signing out doesn’t go down well with criminals. They don’t like coming here: it turns them off…they don’t like registering in the book and that’s what it –it’s actually turned them off…(Interview 20)

When I first moved in next door there were like drugs, dealers. There’s a family there now. Now it’s better. (Interview 15)

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This contentment was by no means universal, however, with residents concerned for both themselves and in the long term for the environment in which they wish their children to grow up:

Yep [I just moved in]. No, it’s not been a good move. I put in for a transfer already. It’s just the drugs and the addicts that’s out the back….Really I need four bedrooms [for the children]. (Interview 28)

I haven’t got many complaints about [estate name]. I’ve never had any bad experiences -I never been threatened or anything like that- but I still wouldn’t like to bring up a child on the estate over the age of, say, about four. You can’t really let them run down stairs to play -I wouldn’t be in that- so long term I don’t intend to be there. (Interview 30)

Despite this mixed assessment there was ample evidence of various networks of residents offering support of varying kinds. One example involved a pragmatic solution to a specific safety concern involving a man who had previously threatened a resident:

…I was at the letter box and he [the concierge] called me over and he goes “[man’s name]’s in the building. “Oh great! I’m alright. I’m tough.” But I went up the other lift. I went up the evens instead of the odds. Then I rang a couple of friends up that live in the units and said, “Meet me at the lift, he’s in the building”, and they said, “No worries”. (Interview 28)

Another resident spoke positively of her neighbours helping in various ways: The neighbour around here is OK. The next-door western people are very

good. They help us a lot. When we get a letter we ask our friends to help us. With filling in application forms we take them to North Yarra Community Health Centre for help. (Interview 10)

Many of the interviewees saw further studies as the key to both their future and that of their children. A number of interviewees were studying at tertiary institutions, while some were in the process of studying under Centrelink Intensive Assistance and other programs. Additionally some interviewees had attended, or were sending their children to, schools some distance from the estates

He would like [child’s name] to go to a Private school, a Catholic school. When he applied for [child’s name] to go to primary school, he had to go to get baptism for her. He thought it would help her to get her education in a Catholic school (translation, Interview 9)

6.6 The role of non-standard forms of employment Most people interviewed talked of their involvement in part-time, casual and informal work, as a means of earning extra income, retaining and developing skills and

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retaining and creating networks. The overwhelming involvement of residents in these non standard and precarious forms of work elicits a number of questions concerning income support. The major difficulty with reliance of these forms of employment concerns lack of overall income as well as insecurity and accompanying anxiety. See 6.3 above, Interview 30. I can earn two hundred a fortnight at the [place of employment]….You earn

seventy dollars a night. You can work Friday night, Saturday night and Sunday. You sometimes work two to three times a week. (Interview 26) Five years [unemployment], but I’ve had plenty of work, employment, the odd job here and there once or twice a week but that’s it. No full on, full time. Not that I didn’t go for interviews but some of it’s out of the way or there’s too many people going for them like I said there’s one labouring job…(Interview 20) My brother is working in designing….He brings round some work for me. I can screw nuts and bolts in speakers, what I can do at home. (Interview 15)

She works in a clothing factory –ironing- in a small factory…He doesn’t know

how much she gets paid for it [per hour]. She works full time. They pay differently as jobs go up and down. If job is more they pay more, less if less. They pay by cash. She is not on New Start….His wife is working so even his New Start get deducted because their income is higher. (translation, Interview 9)

6.6 Capacities for employment Each interviewee was asked to name what they regarded as their employment goal. The replies varied widely, some residents taking a very pragmatic and realistic approach while others spoke more idealistically:

He ideally would love to do farming. However the climate here is not too good. He would like to go to Queensland to do farming where the climate is better. He would like to grow wheat and corn. In his village, there were all kinds of farms so he has experience in all kinds of farming (translation, Interview 4) I’m aiming for a decent administration job (Interview 3) My immediate goals? It depends on my partner. I have applied to four unis but I got to wait ‘til January for the first round offers….Primary teaching has always been there….I’ve always liked kids (Interview 23)

There was evidence of a high degree of planning in some people’s approach to re-entry into the workforce, sometimes with the help of Job Network Provider:

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I want to challenge myself, eventually find something that really suits me, working with the Council, Social Work. But I’m taking it day by day. Get through this program. We’ve been told to keep our sources open. I’ve done an aptitude test. The next stage is an interview….But I have to look at the effect it has on my family. (Interview 24)

Job Network sent a letter saying I’ve been approved to study an aged care course for two years to get back into that field, because it now requires a certificate….So in case in the future I move back…I still got the certificate to show them. (Interview 11) I just got to keep looking and eventually one will come past. I got my forklift ticket. Because I got a ticket I’m targeting that sort of work. Once I got that ticket I got more of a choice of getting a job in that area rather than working just for an unskilled position or factory hand or something like that which is my other alternative ‘cause I didn’t do a trade and all that –so the other alternative I got is factory work. I’d rather do that than do a labouring job. (Interview 30) I’d like to get a contractor’s licence again. That’s a choice. I was thinking of doing another trade, as in carpentry, but whether that works out or not, I’m not sure….There are options for me to do that through this work, these work people, through Job Network. They can arrange that for me through them, but you know I got to sort of suggest it to them, put it to them. Because I got a profession already I’m pretty sure it only takes you two years to do another apprenticeship if you already got one…(Interview 20)

My last job was cleaning. The last two years. I thought, “Don’t just stop there. Think further through that. What’ll I be doing in twenty years?” (Interview 3)

6.7 Barriers to employment A number of consistent themes arose as barriers or potential barriers to employment. Among the overseas born population, the lack of adequate English was a consistently quoted concern:

But the foreman said he didn’t have good enough English so he argued a lot, then took leave. He feels disappointed at this. He communicated with other employees mainly through body language. They [the work colleagues] understood him through his body language, but he was told he did not have enough English. (translation, Interview 4) He has been applying for factory work. He isn’t accepted because his English level is too low. (translation, Interview 7)

This is not just a matter of language skills, but also a lack of ability in communicating across cultural boundaries, particularly verbally:

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I improve my knowledge of English by reading the newspaper. It is articulation I need help with. Aussie slang! I talked to a teacher at AMES –“if you do, it might be down the drain” –colloquial language. I have to do it all over again. It doesn’t matter how much you do, you have to do it again. (Interview 27)

The expense and difficulty of obtaining trade licences in Australia, the lack of recognition of qualifications from overseas, as well as the need to upgrade skills to Australian conditions were concerns: I would like a chance to get an electrician licence, training to upgrade my

knowledge. If I had work with an electrician, I would be more confident about doing the test. Even just for 3 months. (Interview 8)

I did exactly what I did in my country. I did exactly the same thing here…there are machines here that do it really quickly. He want to terminate me. I knew watchmaking in old way, not in new. A lot of equipment made it simple. Anyway one hour it took to put it back to test it….I tell the customers one or two days –he [the boss] got something to test straight away. He did it in ten minutes, half an hour. (Interview 18) My degree does not qualify me in Australia. I know I can get the same job in [country of origin]: I will even work as a labourer for my survival. (Interview 27

Likewise chronic illness and disability emerged as a barrier in a number of interviews. It was a reason given both for leaving previous employment and as a barrier for obtaining new employment: He stopped working at the restaurant. He got an illness. He couldn’t smell oil.

His lungs are weak. It is bad for his health [working in the kitchen/with oil]. That was 5 years ago. He has had no work since then. (translation, Interview 7)

I finished that [unloading job] in June this year. Everyday there’s jobs –

loading and unloading semis. But I got a back injury. I was in gym and lifting a hundred pounds and this twit went up behind me and went like that [motions]. No common sense. I been to the doctor’s…. I got a CAT scan on my back. There’s no visible damage to the cartilage. But there’s pain, not there, but shooting down to there [motions to leg]. I had X-rays…I can’t do much yet. No, I’m not going for jobs while things have been going on. I have to see the physio….(Interview 14)

I got a bit of glass in my foot. I went to see the doctor about it. I have to go see

her tomorrow. She said it’s gone inside my leg and may be moving up my leg so I have to have something done about it. The doctor says it’ll only take a day in hospital. I can get the neighbours in to look after the kids. (Interview 28) I have to tell you I have [name of disease] I’ve had it for 20 years. I can

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control it but I need rest. Once I stop, the symptoms go away. I get tired and sometimes I get stressed. I can’t drink coffee and I can’t eat chocolates. It can go if I take my vitamins and look after my health. But if I get tired it comes back again. (Interview 26)

Some residents spoke of prejudice from potential employers and, in one case, from interviewers at an educational institution. This discrimination was perceived on the basis of address, race and physical appearance:

There were seven people interviewing. They were all awful. They asked where I lived, my money situation. At the time I was working so it was good [but] I could tell I wasn’t going to get in. (Interview 2) If you tell them you live in the high rise in [suburb name], everyone sort of implies it’s not a, the, suburb to live in basically, you tend not to tell anyone –you just write the address and that’s it –whether they realise it or not you know…so you tend not to tell them where you live. (Interview 20) When we come to employment they look at your outside appearance. Western people look bigger. Vietnamese people are short. So Western employers don’t take Vietnamese. We should tell company employers that they give people a go and fire them if they’re no good or keep them if they’re good. (Interview 4)

There is a great deal of racism. It’s hard for people to tolerate different

cultures (Interview 27 ) A number of interviews mentioned the difficulty of keeping cars on or near the estate, this restricting their flexibility in the jobs that they can apply for:

As an electrician you do require a car, and your own tools which I don’t have…I wouldn’t just leave them alone sitting in the side of the street. But you see other cars around here –I’m pretty sure you don’t see too many work vehicles…(Interview 20) I had a decent car. Had myself a decent job. But I had my car here. My car got spray painted, you know, graffitied. It was white. You can’t show up at work like that. Not long after it got pinched. Two months after a friend saw it. You know it’s not hard to miss a car with orange graffiti on it! At least I thought, “well, it isn’t stripped or anything”. (Interview 3) The car’s get a bit bashed up…. [Partner’s name] doesn’t park the car in the car park. She parks it [in the street] where we can see it from our flat. She leaves early in the morning so there’s no parking ticket. (Interview 5)

Several residents referred to possible difficulties in returning to work after a time of unemployment, especially referring to the need to renegotiate relational boundaries and domestic arrangements with their partner, particularly when children are at home: It has been hard –it’s been hard on myself and my partner to adjust like with

her ‘cause I’m not there all the time. It’s her [responsibility] to fill in her time.

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She’s not working at the moment….She found that hard to fill in that space and um we’re working on that. (Interview 22)

Finally, several residents spoke extensively of financial disincentives to return to work, while several others seemed aware of the problem preferring to see their return to work in a broader perspective and thus accepting a temporary loss of income:

Now his wife has come over. She gets cut off unemployment benefits if he does [gets full time work]. They get nearly one thousand dollars a fortnight, including something for the family. If he works he is making less and it is not enough for the whole family. He can’t live on it, wages. Everything increases. Three hundred and sixty five dollars. That’s no overtime. It’s not enough, no good…..Even with housing and a thousand dollars for two weeks, it is just enough. They try to minimise food. You would have to earn four hundred something to go above what he’s getting now in benefits. (translation, Interview 7)

7. Discussion The overwhelming majority of those residents interviewed carry an expectation of, and aspiration towards, returning to full time work and constructing an ongoing career for themselves. The variety of reasons given for wanting to resume work and the willingness to forgo some income to this end suggests that the desire for work can be seen as an expression of a larger desire for economic and social integration into the wider community beyond the estates. Such desires do not automatically carry over to a capacity and/or willingness to gain appropriate employment. Many of the barriers to employment that were cited undoubtedly serve to inhibit such transitions for a significant number of the residents interviewed. The significance of recognition of this desire, however, is that the central problem of movement into employment for these people is not one of motivation. Rather it is that of helping people to give practical expression to this desire. This significantly demurs from Federal Government rhetoric that tends to place the problem as one of motivation, thus absolving its responsibility for the processes designed to help these people obtain work. The once used language of ‘mutual obligation’ sounds rather hollow in this context and the cessation of its use in government policy documents is both welcomed and appropriate. At the other end of the employment question is the type and amount of work available, particularly for people with a low skill and/or education base. It was clear that in the perception of residents the nature of work in the local area had changed markedly from as recent as ten years ago. To some residents this represented an opportunity to engage in enterprise ventures: it was just as clear that other residents saw such changes as a barrier to employment.

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Welcome too is the Federal Government recognition that recent growth in job opportunities has been mainly within casual and part time forms of employment. Many of the people interviewed regarded part time work as an effective way of ensuring an income stream in addition to that provided by Centrelink allowances. The fact that these arrangements had for them become a long term feature of their working life challenges the assumption that such work will eventually lead to more substantial employment. Indeed it is clear that in an overall economic environment marked by the reduced significance of full time, permanent employment, the residents of the City of Yarra high rise are acting appropriately in attempting to construct a life based around continued income support and part time work. The concern is that nearly all of the residents interviewed aspired to full time work and the greater income that they associate with it. There is clearly a need for income and other support to be further tailored to the requirements of such people. Secondly there is a need for further study upon the effects of such work forms on the long-term development of identity as well as on the psychological health of individuals and on the social health of the community in which they live. Another area of concern involves the return to full time low or semi-skilled work. There exists a significant set of disincentives surrounding this transition whereby a resident living with a partner and children in returning to full time low income work experiences at once a small cut in income as well as the loss of public transport concession and an increase in public housing rental. While one person interviewed had decided to use the time on New Start to attempt to secure local employment if at all possible so as to allow a partner to study, the remainder of interviewees saw the social and psychological benefits of returning to work as outweighing any temporary loss of income. It is fair to say that these people had set some specific goals that went beyond a first job, with the accompanying hope of increases in income over time. It remains a matter of concern and urgent policy attention thus whether basic wages for full time semi skilled employment are sufficient to sustain a basic standard of living. This question perhaps has to be viewed in the context of higher community expectations and standards concerning what can be regarded as a healthy or adequate standard of living, yet the overall impression that the answer for an increasing number of people is “no”. Indeed wage rates seem to reflect more the community expectation of some ten years ago than the reality of life today. The practical consequence of these economic factors is evidence of increased anxiety and stress associated with income and greater likelihood of involvement in cash in hand and precarious forms of employment. As to the question of whether there were barriers or capacities to employment specific to the City of Yarra High Rise Estates, the material from the interviews was inconclusive. Some residents saw the estates as themselves as a barrier. Others saw their experience in coming to and living on the estates as an opportunity to get their life back together and eventually get themselves into work. A further small number of interviewees saw their experience of living on the estates directly as being a potential resource/opportunity for future work, mainly in the social welfare field. It remains a matter of concern that the degree of discrimination residents perceive in their encounters in trying to gain work and enter study tends to affirm the thesis that

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geographically identified social exclusion and disadvantage is, if less prominent in resident perceptions than at times in the past, still self perpetuating in the case of the City of Yarra Estates. This raises several serious questions concerning the role of media, research, and welfare and other agency involvement in perpetuating images that are ultimately unhelpful for those living on the estates. Such discrimination, if and where it exists, is ultimately self-defeating for the community at large. In contrast to many external perceptions of life on the estates, the interviews revealed a positive view overall, with the estates’ amenity judged as being generally appropriate to residents’ immediate needs. 8. Recommendations

• As a matter of urgency, that a reference group be formed comprising representatives of the various community initiatives across the City of Yarra High Rise Estates as well as resident representatives with the aim of data collection including documentation of research and present community agency and other initiatives. The City of Yarra has initiated such a group: its importance cannot be underestimated in view of the many different initiatives taking place at the present time.

• Cessation of mutual obligation rhetoric in Policy Development in favour of an

approach which emphasises cooperation with those people attempting to access work.

• That further research be undertaken into the matter of formation of identity in

environments with limited access to work and in environments marked by non standard forms of employment.

• That cultural communication approaches to the Teaching of English as a

Second Language taking into account the educational attainment levels of potential students and the need for appropriate language delivery in the work place be strengthened. It is hoped that he model of communication training operating at Atherton Gardens Estate be strengthened and resourced, with consideration given to its adoption at other sites/estates

• That present Neighbourhood Renewal initiatives be continued and

strengthened by emphasis upon enterprise schemes tailored to the employment capacities identified within the existing estate populations.

• Similarly that present Neighbourhood Renewal initiatives be expanded to

include the three City of Yarra High Rise and Walk up Estates. • That future Community Development have included in its terms of reference a

specifically vocational/ employment orientation/ focus as a second stage community development strategy utilising, if necessary, cross agency and/or program cooperation to this end.

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• As an extension of the above recommendation, that ongoing support be

provided, as appropriate, to entrants into work to help deal with underlying personal issues particularly as they come up within the work place. A change of attitude is needed in regard employment: it’s not just a matter of getting an unemployed person across the line –ongoing planning is needed.

• That the three City of Yarra estates look to opportunities of cooperation in

pooling resources and programs, not to save resources but to strengthen bridging capital, and to achieve other social and economic outcomes.

• That the Office of Housing adopt and/or strengthen flexibility in its allocation

policies with the aim of promoting sustainable community.

• That the Centrelink payment system be likewise altered to reflect the realities of present day casual and part-time employment so as not to discriminate against people employed on these bases.

• That the Federal Government in its review of Income Support give greater

recognition to the spatial/locality dimension of social exclusion/inclusion and include community based resourcing of areas marked by social exclusion.

• That the Federal Government include in its review of Income Support

consideration of income support to low income full time workers in semi and unskilled employment.

9. References Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2001, Census of Population and Housing, First Release Processing, Yarra (C) –Richmond SLA 205057352 Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2001, Census of Population and Housing, First Release Processing, Yarra (C) –North SLA 205027352 Bryson, L. & Winter, I. 1999, Social Change, Suburban Lives: An Australian Newtown 1960s to 1990s, Allen & Unwin, St. Leonards. City of Yarra, 2000, Community Profile, City of Yarra, Richmond. Commonwealth of Australia, 2002, Building a Simpler System to help jobless Families and Individual, Discussion Paper. Digney, K. 1999, Assessment of Service Needs for Young People and Families living on the North Richmond Housing Estate, Jesuit Social Services, Richmond. Borland, J., Gregory, B. & Sheehan, P. 2001, ‘Inequality and economic change’ in J. Borland, B. Gregory & P. Sheehan (eds.) Work rich, work poor: Inequality and

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economic change in Australia, Centre for Strategic Economic Studies, Victoria University, Melbourne. Guinness, C. 2000, Assessment of the Service Needs of Low Income Families: Collingwood and Fitzroy Housing Estates, Jesuit Social Services, Richmond. Jamieson N. & Jacobs, J. 1996, ‘The Making of Marginalisation: Highrise Living and Social Polarisation’ in J. Cameron et al (eds.) Restructuring Difference: Social Polarisation and the City, Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute, Melbourne. McNelis, S. & Reynolds, A. 2001, Creating better Futures for Residents of High Rise Public housing in Melbourne, Ecumenical Housing, Melbourne. Mullins, P. & Western, J. 2001, Examining the links between housing and nine key socio cultural factors, Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute - Queensland Research Centre, Melbourne. Office of Housing, Department of Human Services, Government of Victoria March 2002, 1995, Unpublished data on demographic characteristics of City of Yarra Housing Estates. Phibbs, P. “Housing Assistance and non housing outcomes” Paper presented to National Housing Conference, Brisbane, 2001 Randolph, B. 2000, ‘Renewing disadvantaged areas: Issues and Policies’, Presentation to the ‘Creative Approaches to Urban Renewal’ Conference, Shelter WA, Perth, Urban Frontiers Program, University of Western Sydney, Sydney. Saunders, P. 2002. ‘The Impact of Unemployment on Poverty, Inequality and Social Exclusion’ in P. Sanders & R. Taylor (eds.) The Price of Prosperity: The Economic and Social Costs of Unemployment, University of New South Wales Press, Sydney. Tait, B. 2001, In the Absence of Work: A study about unemployed young people and their struggles for identity, Unpublished Thesis, School of Sociology, Politics and Anthropology, La Trobe University, Bundoora. Taylor, J. 2002, ‘Unemployment and Family Life’ in P. Saunders & R. Taylor (eds.) The Price of Prosperity: The Economic and Social Costs of Unemployment, University of New South Wales Press, Sydney. Vinson, T. 1996, Waterloo Estate Study, Report by UNSW School of Social Work for Department for Housing, Better Cities Program, Sydney. Vinson, T. Unequal in Life: the distribution of social disadvantage in Victoria and New South Wales, 1999, Jesuit Social Services, Ignatius Centre, Richmond. Vinson, T., Abela, M., Hutka, R. 1998, Making Ends Meet: A Study of Unemployed Young People Living in Sydney, Uniya Social Justice Research Institute, Sydney.

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Watson, I. & Buchanan, J. 2001, ‘Beyond impoverished visions of the labour market’ in R. Fincher & P. Saunders (eds.) Creating Unequal futures? Rethinking Poverty, Inequality and Disadvantage, Allen & Unwin, Crows Nest. Winter, I. 2000, Towards a theorised understanding of family life and Social Capital, Australian Institute of Family Studies Working Paper No. 21, Melbourne. Winter, I. & Stone, W. 1998, Social Polarisation and housing careers: Exploring the interrelationship of labour and housing markets in Australia, Working Paper No. 13, Australian Institute of Family Studies, Melbourne. Appendix A: “Access to Employment” Interview questions*:

1. History of work/employment? Your own work (and other?) “story”?

2. Aspirations and hopes re employment, overall life hopes (eg stay/move from estate? What kind of hopes for employment?)

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3. Educational background?

4. What skills do you have/ would you bring to the workplace?

5. Constraints/problems concerning getting work? 6. Opportunities sought (to find a way over/through constraints? –emphasis

upon more immediate needs/strategies *These questions were intended to be used as a basis only Appendix B:

9th September 2002

RE: “Access to Employment by People of the Public Housing Estates in the City of Yarra”

This interview is part of a research study being conducted by Jesuit Social Services. The aim of the study is to look for new ways of assisting unemployed people from the City of Yarra estates to access work of their choice. Jesuit Social Services already provides some assistance to people on

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the estate: my hope is that we will better contribute to helping you find and keep work of your choice in the future.

The study consists of a number of interviews with people from the City of Yarra Estates. I hope, through this process, to identify any common patterns or concerns you may have. The interviews are conducted on the basis of anonymity. Any record of the interview, such as any notes I take, will be regarded as confidential documents and treated as such. I will exclude from any report material that could, in the judgement of Jesuit Social Services, lead to possible identification of a resident. Lastly, there will be a one-off payment of $35 made at the conclusion of the interview. Jesuit Social Services requires that I see proof that you are in receipt of New Start, or equivalent, in order to make this payment.

If you have any questions about this, or anything else to do with the project, please contact me at the phone number printed to the left.

Many thanks for your time

David Holdcroft Social Policy Officer Jesuit Social Services

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