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Reposted by Dr. Abigail Lewis

Australasian Centre for Corporate Responsibility (ACCR) @accr.bsky.social · 1d

Submissions are now pouring in and the common factor is that almost everyone – the competition regulator, manufacturers and even some in the gas industry – is pointing the finger at Santos. www.abc.net.au/news/2025-10...

Why Santos is behind your soaring electricity and mortgage costs

It was a primary force behind Australia’s inflationary surge, it’s forced businesses either to the wall or to shift offshore, undermined national industry policy and resulted in the loss of countless ...

www.abc.net.au

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Reposted by Dr. Abigail Lewis

Ben Spies-Butcher @bspiesbutcher.bsky.social · 1d

How did #Housing shape the 2025 #auspol Election? Come to our free webinar.

We analyse new data to see how generation, tenure and voting shape housing politics

With @emmabaker.bsky.social @shaunratcliff.bsky.social and @everybodyshome.bsky.social Maiy Azize

events.humanitix.com/webinar-on-h...

Housing and the 2025 Federal Election: Between Crisis and Inertia

Join our free webinar for key insights into housing and politics—ideal for researchers, students, and policymakers tackling Australia's housing crisis.

events.humanitix.com

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Reposted by Dr. Abigail Lewis

Vacro @vacro.bsky.social · 1d

We were proud to attend the Inner North Community Foundation Awards at Abbotsford Convent last night and celebrate the ongoing funding awarded to our Second Chance Cycles program.

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Reposted by Dr. Abigail Lewis

Vacro @vacro.bsky.social · 2d

“The 20-year study also found that the increase in prison population did not correlate with an increase in individuals committing crimes, with the number of offenders per capita reaching its lowest level in 2023-24.”

Rise in Victoria's prisoner numbers outpaces population growth

Victoria's prison population has surged by 62 per cent in the last 20 years as the number of accused held on remand triples.

www.abc.net.au

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Dr. Abigail Lewis @abigaillewis.bsky.social · 13d

Congratulations! Such a font of knowledge for all of us. 👏🥳

Dr. Abigail Lewis @abigaillewis.bsky.social · 14d

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Dr. Abigail Lewis @abigaillewis.bsky.social · Jun 4

...knowing that even if they experienced mental health crisis – even if they were hospitalised – their tenancy would be waiting for them when they stabilised. Extraordinarily powerful: hail.ie

Housing Association For Integrated Living | Ireland

Discover affordable housing options in Ireland. HAIL provides supported housing services to people with mental health needs.

hail.ie

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Dr. Abigail Lewis @abigaillewis.bsky.social · Jun 4

I was particularly struck by the way their tenants strongly and proudly identified as HAIL tenants. They had a clear sense of belonging to a supported and supportive community...

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Dr. Abigail Lewis @abigaillewis.bsky.social · Jun 4

And on that note, my favourite presentation of today was an incredible panel of tenants and staff at HAIL here in Dublin. HAIL provides lifelong tenancies *and* specialised mental health tenancy sustainment support. They have ~700 tenants and a 99% tenancy sustainment rate.

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Dr. Abigail Lewis @abigaillewis.bsky.social · Jun 4

...tenancy managers in our social housing sector are engaged in supporting their tenants every day anyway – and that they want to be, but they just aren’t funded to be.

And we’re not doing any other part of Housing First anyway, so why do we stick so vehemently to this part?!

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Dr. Abigail Lewis @abigaillewis.bsky.social · Jun 4

...housing not being contingent on support. It doesn’t mean housing providers should receive no funding to provide any of the support their tenants need and must instead only refer to external support services!

My own research certainly showed that...

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Dr. Abigail Lewis @abigaillewis.bsky.social · Jun 4

It also feels clearer to me that the way we’ve separated housing and support was a serious policy blunder. Again, we’ve implemented it in a way it doesn’t appear to ever have been intended.

As a Housing First principle, the ‘separation of housing and support’ is really about...

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Dr. Abigail Lewis @abigaillewis.bsky.social · Jun 4

...they don't mean “we house people straight out of homelessness next to private renters and blindly hope for some ‘neighbourhood effects’”.

They mean “half the people in this city live in social housing so ofc lots of them live next to private renters and we invest in maintaining those levels”.

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Dr. Abigail Lewis @abigaillewis.bsky.social · Jun 4

Supported housing seems often to be considered under a separate Housing First policy (and funding bucket) and isn’t part of the tenure mix conversation.

So when Europeans say “tenure mix works”...

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Dr. Abigail Lewis @abigaillewis.bsky.social · Jun 4

What’s more, many of these social housing systems are not as residualised as ours is, so what they call ‘tenure mix’ refers to a mix of private tenants and high-capacity social tenants, all of whom are holding down their tenancies without support.

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Dr. Abigail Lewis @abigaillewis.bsky.social · Jun 4

What Vienna means by ‘mixed tenure’ is not “we’re demolishing a public housing estate and what we build over it will have a 50/50 social/private tenure mix”. It’s “two thirds of any and all new construction will be social housing”.

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Dr. Abigail Lewis @abigaillewis.bsky.social · Jun 4

...which has led to the dominance of mixed tenure as a default for new social housing in Australia.

But by the end of Day 1 a couple of things have become clear: mixed tenure in Europe ‘works’ because of the scale of construction.

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Dr. Abigail Lewis @abigaillewis.bsky.social · Jun 4

It’s humbling – almost embarrassing! – to realise how truly unambitious a housing policy agenda we have come to accept.

One thing I came here keen to learn more about is the oft-proclaimed success of a mixed tenure approach to social and affordable housing provision in Europe...

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Dr. Abigail Lewis @abigaillewis.bsky.social · Jun 4

My reflections at the end of #ISHF2025 Day 1:

My God, we are so behind! So many accepted norms in much of Europe – Housing First; rent control; STR regulation (/eradication!); the basic premise that market intervention is needed in a failed housing market – are considered radical in Australia.

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Dr. Abigail Lewis @abigaillewis.bsky.social · May 30

I'm presenting my paper 'We help each other: How care ethics support tenancy sustainment in social housing' on the Thursday 5th at 2:45pm.

If you're interested, come along and feel free to reach out ahead of time - see you there! :)

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Dr. Abigail Lewis @abigaillewis.bsky.social · May 30

Who else out there is heading to #ISHF2025?

I'm so excited to visit Dublin for the first time (!) and learn from social housing experts from around the world!

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Reposted by Dr. Abigail Lewis

Vacro @vacro.bsky.social · May 15

Two ABC articles, one day apart. Two diametrically opposed approaches to crime prevention.

One works. The other just got three quarters of a billion dollars in funding.

If we want stronger, safer communities that can overcome the drivers of crime, we *must* invest in them instead.

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Reposted by Dr. Abigail Lewis

Greg Pak @gregpak.net · May 12

Wanna reduce crime?

Open more libraries.

"we find within the nearby proximity of the library; there is a substantial reduction in frequency of burglaries, vandalism, robberies, fraud, and assaults."

link.springer.com/article/10.1...

Do public libraries help mitigate crime? Evidence from Kansas City, MO - Journal of Cultural Economics

We examine the relationship between public libraries and local crime rates. Previous studies have looked at different factors that could account for changes in crime, but few have focused on cultural ...

link.springer.com

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Reposted by Dr. Abigail Lewis

Annalee Newitz @annaleen.bsky.social · May 12

Fentanyl deaths are up by 50 percent in San Francisco after Mayor Lurie replaced harm reduction programs with police and prisons. It's almost like you put lives in danger when you treat a public health problem like it's a crime
48hills.org/2025/05/fent...

Fentanyl deaths up 50 percent in three months; why isn't this a big news story? - 48 hills

Plus: A terrible project that Yimby, Wiener and Co. has forced on San Francisco. That's The Agenda for May 11-18

48hills.org

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Dr. Abigail Lewis @abigaillewis.bsky.social · May 12

Nearly a billion dollars magically found in this 'tight fiscal environment' to punish and harm more people.

Nearly a billion dollars that could have gone to youth and community services that *actually* build stronger and safer communities.

Absolutely infuriating.

New bail laws prompt $727m government spend on Vic jails

The Victorian government has promised to spend $727 million ramping up capacity in the state's prisons and youth justice centres, following tougher new bail laws introduced in March.

www.abc.net.au

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