City Limits Kevin Healy, Zeb Peake & Karina Aedo-Aguilera

Shane McGrath from Raise the Roof  provided an update on the State enquiry into Public Housing. Shane also spoke about the Departrment of Consumer Affairs Task Force into Landlords. It is so under-resourced to be effective when it comes to dealing resident complaints.Would replacing negative gearing with rent tax and rent controls free up enough housing? Jack Verdins spoke about the Housing Justice Campaign, an Australia-wide campaign and petition calling unions to help lead green-bans and campaign with the community to offer these solutions to the housing crisis: 1. Preservation of Public Housing: Ensure that existing public housing structures are preserved and maintained, protecting the rights and homes of current residents.2. Public Housing as Solution: Promote the development of additional public housing to solve the housing crisis across the country. 3. Community Participation: Enact an inclusive and democratic process of community meetings (ie Citizen's Assemblies) where the input of the community genuinely informs any refit, refurbishment and redevelopment plans. If you want to get involved with HAAG, you can listen to Raise the Roof 5:30-6pm, on the second and fourth Wednesday of each month on 3CR, you can head to www.oldertenants.org, or give them a call on (03) 9654 7389. To access all previous podcasts and any extra links in our podcast descriptions, visit 3cr.org.au/citylimits

 Kevin and Karina speak with regular transport commentator John McPherson about all things transport, in particular a recent report on NO2 pollution in southern cross station - 1,200 parts per billion averaged for 24 hours over the last 12 years - 3.5 times worse than 'extremely poor air quality' levels. To access all previous podcasts and any extra links in our podcast descriptions, visit 3cr.org.au/citylimits

 This week on City Limits, we speak with our usual suspects when it comes to housing issues. Shane McGrath from Housing for the Aged Action Group (HAAG) comes in first to give us all the HAAG news, including information about issues in 'residential parks', and the unprotected industrial action (a walk-out for Palestine) that ASU workers in the social and community services sector have planned for 1pm Thursday 22nd Feb at 128 Exhibition St, Melbourne (Victorian Council of Social Service building).  Later, public housing activist and advocate Jack Verdins joins us for a discussion on the recently released internal council documents with new info on evictions of Techno Park Estate residents in Williamstown, rising rents and government policy pandering to private housing sector, Victoria's pitiful lack of investment in the public housing sector, and more. If you want to get involved with HAAG, you can listen to Raise the Roof 5:30-6pm, on the second and fourth Wednesday of each month on 3CR, you can head to www.oldertenants.org, or give them a call on (03) 9654 7389. To access all previous podcasts and any extra links in our podcast descriptions, visit 3cr.org.au/citylimits

 This Energy Week on City Limits, we speak with Freja Leonard from the No More Gas Collective (Friends of the Earth Melbourne) about Australian gas companies and their lobby groups, who are spinning a desperate PR campaign to maintain relevance, plus our usual news items and more on the energy sector.  To access all previous podcasts and any extra links in our podcast descriptions, visit 3cr.org.au/citylimits

 Kevin and Karina start the year with a recap on the good and the bad events of the past months, and later talk to regular transport commentator John McPherson about admissions of the city's bus networks, disputes over the long held-up rail links, the state government's financial pressures, and much more. To access all previous podcasts and any extra links in our podcast descriptions, visit 3cr.org.au/citylimits

 This Transport Week we speak with regular transport commentator John McPherson, and also with Friends of the Earth's Sustainable Cities Campaign Coordinator Elyse Cunningham about their Better Buses Campaign in the wake of 2023 Transport Equity Week, and why a comprehensive overhaul of our bus networks is necessary for sustainability and reliable accessibility to all services and spaces for those living in our city's most ill-resourced local government areas. To access all previous podcasts and any extra links in our podcast descriptions, visit 3cr.org.au/citylimits