THE city’s most vulnerable are taking advocacy into their own hands as they struggle to cope with the burdening impacts of the housing and cost-of-living crises.
More than 500 refugees, migrants, renters and social housing tenants took to the soccer pitch this month to raise awareness of the challenges facing the Logan community and call for solutions.
One of the players was Robbie Alam, a Rohingya man born and raised inside the confines of a refugee camp in Bangladesh.
Now a renter here in Australia, the 25-year-old has become a leader in the local Rohingya community (a stateless ethnic group from Myanmar and Bangladesh).
He said the housing and cost-of-living crises posed significant challenges to an already vulnerable group.
“They’re coming into a completely new country, and a lot of them don’t have any life skills or education to get employment straight away, so finding a house seems almost impossible,” Mr Alam said.
When he first came to Australia, Mr Alam was enamoured with the local streets, parks, buildings and houses.
But 10 years later, our systems have left him disenchanted.
“Everything is a lot worse right now,” he said. “The housing crisis at the moment is absolutely ridiculous.
“I know quite a lot of families that are in motels for months without a kitchen and stuff because there is no housing for them.”
For many, the costs of surviving are simply too high.
Throughout the soccer tournament held last week, attendees played over 50 soccer matches, shared food and watched performances spanning several cultures – all in the name of change.
The players called on the next federal government to lend a helping hand to at-risk residents.
Their proposition: to arm all households with solar panels, batteries and electric appliances to help reduce energy costs.
Many Australians have already found success doing just that, with three million households across the country saving an average of $1390 per year thanks to rooftop solar, according to the Clean Energy Council.
But those unable to afford the upfront costs – renters, apartment dwellers, and social housing tenants – have missed out.
The plan was originally devised by Renew Australia for All, an alliance of more than 50 organisations from across faith groups, social services, unions, regional communities and climate and environment organisations.
According to the campaign team, the plan could save local households up to $3039 a year, slash 40 million tonnes of climate pollution, and create 18,000 jobs across the country.
Current costings show the plan to re-power homes nation-wide would require a $5 billion down-payment followed by a minimum of $50 billion rolled out over 10 years.
Logan mayor Jon Raven backed the plan, saying he would love to see all households have rooftop solar.
“The easiest way to lower people’s cost of living is to lower the cost of their power,” he said.
“Wouldn’t it be amazing if everyone could have access to solar panels on their roof so that their power bills would drop immediately? Not just good for your bank balance, also good for the environment.
He said the plan would make a particular difference in Logan, where around 40% of the population rents.
“I know that every single one of those people would love to have cheaper power bills, owner occupiers would too. It would mean folks could afford to spend more money in our local businesses, which creates more employment and is just great for the economy.”
The man who organised the tournament, Walters Nkemfack, said communities in Logan were “used to having our voices ignored”.
“But we are learning that we need to raise our voice as otherwise decisions are made for us,” he said.
“We want cheaper energy bills and actions that help our planet and we are getting active in a unique way that brings our multicultural activities through sport and music to make that change for us.”
