Cart before horse

I have blogged a bit over recent months on the completely shite state of Aboriginal housing in some areas. I think I can sum up what I have discovered in this phrase:

Solving the Aboriginal housing "crisis" will not solve the problems of a single blackfella. Rather, solving the underlying problems of the blackfellas will in turn solve the housing "crisis".

There appears to be a train of thought whereby if we throw a billion or so at Aboriginal housing, all ills will be cured. No more kiddie fiddling, rape, murder, mayhem, assault, drunkeness, unemployment, poor school attendance, petrol sniffing and so on. A house is the magic pill to cure all ills!

Yeah, right.

If you take an educated Aboriginal with a job and put him or her in a nice house, I can pretty much guarantee that five years later, they will still be living in a nice house.

If you take a school drop out who has never worked and who drinks a carton a day and smoke dope on the side and has been in and out of prison for assault, burglary and drunken tomfoolery and give them a nice house, odds are it will be a complete wreck within six months.

It matters not if the tenants are black or white - I knew a bunch of dope smoking wasters when I was at uni, and they lived in a run down shack in a nice suburb. It was run down, but neat and clean when they moved in. Six months later, the front yard was full of broken down cars, motorbikes and weeds, the place had never been cleaned, and the backyard was a mass of beer cans, used bongs and dog turds. Useless wasters are useless wasters, whether they are white, black, yellow, male, female, gay or otherwise.

Hell, most of my friends were like that at uni. You should have seen what Trendyman and Tractorhead did to a very nice Art Deco house in Perth's most expensive suburb. In all the time they lived there, it was the only house in the street never to be burgled - and they never locked, let alone closed the front door. No self respecting burglar would set foot in the place.

I just wish the government would say, "Come back and see us when you have your shit together. At that point, we can talk about your housing options. We have some nice people over there who will help you if you are willing to help yourself. Until then, go find a nice tree to sleep under."