BROTHERHOOD OF ST. LAURENCE 67 BRUNSWICK STREET, FITZROY • ' ARCHIVES - BROTHERHOOD'OF .ST LAURENCE 2/12/69. • - 'REPORT- ON HOSTEL STUDY • '■

The main purpose of this study was. - . 1. To enquire''into the housing situation of aged pensioners living in rented rooms in the inner metropolitan area, including members of the Coolibah Cldb, the nature of the problems causing concern to Miss Sumner and Mrs. Millott, and the number of persons in this last group. 2. To ascertain.likely developments in Pitzroy which-may affect the present situation. 3. - To assess the need for and the usefulness of- a hostel in this geographic area and to make recommendations for tho kind of service to be provided if such a hostel is to be built. ’ According to figures obtained from the Computer Centre of thefJQmmonwealth. Department of Social Services there are 301 males "and 28h females receiving the Age pension and supplementary assist- ’ancein the Pitzroy postcode area. (Supplementary assistance is paid-- to single pensioners paying rent subject to a strict means test). These figures are of interest for the fact that apart from the Melbourne postcode area, Pitzroy is the only area where males outnumber females, except North Melbourne where the differr- enqe is negligible. • The Coolibah .Club has at present about lhOmembers and of these between 60 and 70 are living in rented rooms. About six people ,are believed to be invalid pensioners. • The rest.are ■ either'living in their own homes, in Housing Commission flats, or share satisfactory accommodation dh a more permanept basis and are causing no concern. Membership hap been showing a declining tendency but, there is a steady stream of referrals from hospitals and welfare agencies for emergency assistance mainly for meals and companionship, ofjien for younger persons attending hospital* or receptly discharged, and persons in transit between jobs with nowhere to go. These are mostly of a temporary nature an4 no accurate figures are available. It is a generally held view amongst agencies who have contact with similar client groups that existing hostel accommodf- ation is not popular on the whole. Vacancies at the Central Mission Hospice in North Melbourne, the absence of a waiting list and occasional empty rooms at the Salvation Army James Bray Home in a'Beckett Street, and vacancies in "the male section at Clare­ mont Hostel in South Melbourne, all catering for active age pensioner males are proof of this. It was thought that there were a considerable number of older invalid pensioners,requiring accommodation but not eligible for' existing housing because of limitations of the Aged Persons Homps Act, but +his supposition was not borne out by the information obtained from a few selected organisations. (See Appendix I).

Interviews with a small sample of 15 Coolibah Club members (Appendix II) revealed a ■remarkable unanimity in the rejection of any kind of accommodation which- involved limitation of personal freedom. Although better quality.housing' at similar or lower rents to those paid at present would be’. Welcomed, even Housing Commission flats were sometimes•seen as too restrictive. There' was generally a fairly uncritical: acceptance, of .existing low standard housing and the'imost desirable feature of. present accomm­ odation was a high degree "of .privacy and absence ,of. 'irules- and regulations" . Only those in very poor , health and ..advanced age showed any interest in hostel or/hoarding houpe .type accommodation.

1 3 It is.not possible to.predict at this stage whether the present merger of Melbourne and.Fitzroy Councils will be carried ou,t'and ff'so what .effect this would have on the development of welfare services. A great deal would depend on the nature of "available subsidies.

Interviews with the Fitzroy Town Clerk and City Engineer haVe revealed that there are po plans for any street widening or similar activities at present. which could result in demolition of existing rented housing. ' There are however definite plans for considerable rate increases over tho next three years and these could adversely affect the rents charged. The Council is currently looking for suitable land to hand over to the Housing Commission for the erection of Age pensioner units, but if no such land, is available, the Council may consider purchasing land for this purpose and perhaps building the flats themselves, ' The latter, however, seems a somewhat remote possibility, . ’ . Mr. R. Burkitt (Housing Commission) stated quite' definitely •that single men would be considered for the units built with the additional funds now becoming available and confirmed the plans for building some units in Fitzroy. No information could be obtained from him as to further demolition plans in the Fitzroy.area. Cheap rented accommodation■is likely to continue to-be in short supply and it is difficult to envisage a time when'the' Housing Commission' or similar bodies are likely to catch- up with the- defflhnd. Dr. R-.S. Gilbert, officer .of the Policy and Research Divisionin the Department of Housing, has worked .out an ingenious formula for calculating the time wl).en supply will equal demand but admits that insufficient data makes it impossible to give reason­ ably reliable forecasts.

In order to find a solution for the housing needs'of persons who are not acceptable to the.Housing Commission as tenants, or who themselves reject this-kind of accommodation, a careful study' pf their:particu3a r problems would be required. The Salvation Arm^ is planning such a study for a somewhat younger marginally employ­ able grpup of men. For the aged persons who at present are obliged to spend a large proportion of their pension on low standard accommodation, provision of similar housing of a higer standard could'be envisaged. Dandlords of cheap lodging houses are presumably making a reasonable’ and possibly a substantial profit. It -should there­ fore be possible to improve conditions and charge somewhat lower rents if such an establishment were to be managed on a non-profit making basis.. It could prove an interesting and worthwhile experiment to provide accommodation for a carefully selected group of tenants housed in one or two leased terrace houses. Supervision wOuld need to be unobtrusive and reduced'to'a minimum compatible .with- maintaining orderly management.’ -A weekly cleaning and linen service, combined with rent collection, would give an opportunity for keeping an eye on individual residents without imposing undue restrictions on their daily lives'. There could be some feal difficulties', however,' in balancing the need for maintaining a standard acceptable to the Brotherhood against the desire for. freedom and independence of the tenants. Further, plans would have to be made for housing the tenants should the lease not he renewed or the project abandoned for other reasons. The group causing most concern to Mrs. Millott are those members of the Club who are no longer able to manage in their rented rooms or whose landlord considers them-no longer acceptable as tenants beoause of frailty or ill-health. 5 Special attention would have to he paid to careful placing of ^ common activity areas to ,encourage movement from floor to floor. "More service areas,"such, as linenrooms, etc. would also have to he. provided tp eliminate .-Unnecessary staff movement.

Pehhaps the acquisition o£ a more suitable site could he considered. According to Miss Watkins', the general preponderance of women in the older age groups has led many organisations to cater for women only with the result that frail aged men are extremely hard to place-. Single rooms with toilet;' and wash has in and communal showers and haths appear the most appropriate for this kind of hostel. .Some residents would permanently need assistance with hathing while others might require help occasionally^ and the pro­ vision of private showers or bathrooms would therefore he unnecessr- ary and impractical. Provision of one or two wards with 3 or U beds pLaced'within easy reach of staff would he useful for the accommodation of those residents who need more assistance. Ample room should he provided apart from'bedroom's to en­ courage the residents tp move about and take an interest in their surroundings, i.e., verandahs, several lounges, one • of.them for T.V., and a craft room. Activities should he encouraged .by a visiting occupational therapist or craft worker. These activities could perhaps in .some way he integrated .-with the Coolihah Club. According to Miss Watkins, approximately 60 beds is"the recommended size for such homes in Great Britain. Staff generally consists of one matron and a deputy matron, both preferably - hut not necessarily - with some nursing background. In one home near Oxford, the rest of the staff consisted of:-

b trained nurses (training approximately equivalent to our nursing aides) • 6 attendants 1 cook, 1 assistant cook.. b cleaning personnel Numbers of staff would depend on the degree of assistance and super­ vision required by residents at any given time... The staff should-be selected primarily, on considerations of personal qualities of kindness ahd tinderstahding and an interest ih old people rather than-on professional qualifications. It should be possible to call on the District Nursing Service as required. It id essential that the residents should have a feeling of security. It is well known that this is an important element in maintaining-'both physical and mental health. Those who bbcome too frail or ...too i'll to remain .-at the hostel and need nursing care should have a.prior-.claim.. on -beds at Carinya, which takes at present many patients from outside the Brotherhood. Some, pro­ vision will have to be made for the men, either by providing male beds at Garinya or another nursing hoipe or by d o p e liaison with one of the existing Benevolent Homes.

It would probably be possible for the Brotherhood to obtain financial assistance from the Commonwealth Government for building a hostel through the Aged Persons Hbmes Act on tpe basis of its allowance of hostel beds in proportion to existing accommodation for the active aged. A number of residents would foreseeably be in the 80+ age group and thus be eligible for thip $5 per day Commoriwealth subsidy but there is at present no provision for financial assistance similar to the nursing home subsidy towards maintenance costs of this kind of hostel. Further, there is no legal provision for APPENDIX I.

In order to test the assumption that a considerable 'number of-invalid pensioners are in .need, of but abe not eligible for' accommodation provided With' subsidy'through the Aged Persons'Homes Act and also to assess the demand for various types of accommoda­ tion, it was decided to enlist the'co-operation of a small number •of appropriate agencies who were, asked to keep records 'on the' forms supplied for a period of 5 weeks. Summary of records kept by:- Miss J. Sumner, Brotherhood of St Laurence St. Vincent’s Hospital, Social Work Department Victorian Red Cross, Social Work Seryice Commonwealth Dept, of Social Services, Social Work Section Victorian'Council on the Ageing,. Information & Advisory Service. ’ Records were kept over a 5-week period (except Victorian Council on the Ageing, which cpvers August-October period). Combined Pensioners Association was asked to participate but •declined because of lack of enquiries. Number of enquiries:

B.S.L. ' 15 (including 2 couples) St. Vincent's Hospital 30 Red Cross 9 C ’th. Dept, of Social Services 22 Victorian Council on the Ageing 59 (3/12 period) 135

Enquiries for type of accommodation I, With cooking and washing facilities fob persons, able to ■ care for themselves (ive., Housing Commission type). II. Pull board, cleaning and linen with occasional assistance of a personal nature in case of minor illness.- III. Pull board plus help with bathing, dressing, etc. I A.P. .P. • - Vic. Council Total M ~ P M P not classified

I, 9 31+ 3 6 17 kS II. 10 3 3 2 11 29 III. 11 3 1 1 31 57

3° 30 7 9 59 135

Temporary accommodation was required for 9 persons, of these 2 were I.P, females. ’ It was not stated why temporary accommodation only (in Category I) was required. 6 persons were on waiting lists of Benevolent Homes and 1 needed temporary cdre to give relatives a break. Conclusions: The largest number, as expected, required Category JII type of care, almost twice as many as those needing boarding-houpe type of accommodation. Assuming that there were no younger persons in the Victorian Council on the Ageing group, the number of invalid pensioners in this particular group was small but nevertheless constituted APPENDIX It.

Information about rented rooms fop aged persons, in the Eiizroy area, was obtained jnainly from members of the Brotherdioo'd of St Laurence Coolibah Club. Rents range from & 8 - $13 per fortnight isingle ^16 - $20 " " for coupleb This usually includes cleaning (of sorts, once a week)', sheets and towel (changed weekly), lighting. In some cases hot water for shower or bath and washing of clothes is included, but more often there is an extra charge (slot meter) for these and for gas cooking stove. Heating generally not available1, most tenants use own kerosene stove, • 1 The communal bathroom, laundry and lavatory are generally situated at the back of the hpuse, access mostly via an open back yard. Often cooking stoves are also practically in the open. Furnishing generally consists of a bed, a bedside locker, a wardrobe, a table and 1 or 2 chairs. Sometimes there is a chest of drawers or simildr piece of furniture, the top of whichf together with the mantelpiece, serye for cooking, and for storing cooking utensils, crockery and some food. 1

Many residents prefer to do their own cleaning and some use and wash their own sheets and towels. Only 1 person shared a room.

As a rule there is no sittingroom or other communal area for the use of residents. Quality cqn be said to range from poor to very substandard. There are two main types of rented rooms, i?e. -- (a) one or two rooms let in a house primarily occupied by a family, and (b) lodging houses with a larger number of rooms let to yariohs people with the proprietor often not living on the premises. The same person may own or lease several adjoining terrace houses or several houses in the same street. No information was obtained regarding the owners or lessees of such properties or thp financial returns of letting rooms in this way.

A striking common feature was the fairly uncritical accept­ ance by the interviewed persons of the low standard of accommoda­ tion. There were some comments abjoqt the poor condition of bathroom and kitchen facilities but remarkably little criticism of the amount of rent or of the large proportion of total income that had to be spent on acc ommodation. Most people would prefer somewhat better quality rooms and facilities if they could afford them but there was definite rejection of any kind of arrangement which involved "rules and regulations" and even the Housing Commission flats were sometimes seen as being too restrictive of personal freedom. The most desirable feature of present accommo­ dation was seen to be a high degree of independence and privacy.. Only those in very poor health or advanced age showed any interest in hostel or boardinghouse type of accommodation.

2/12/69