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Dr. Abigail Lewis @abigaillewis.bsky.social · 8d

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

Dr. Abigail Lewis @abigaillewis.bsky.social · 9d

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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Dr. Abigail Lewis @abigaillewis.bsky.social · Apr 17

Do you know someone who:

🟣Is a digital comms whizz & can do socials, email, website, & even a bit of video/graphic design?!

🟣Is passionate & knowledgeable about justice system reform?!

🟣Wants flexible p/t hours at an NFP that walks the talk & truly supports wellbeing?!

Send them to me please! ⤵️

Digital Communications & Advocacy Specialist

Position Snapshot Salary range - $85,126.08 - $91,587.60 (Pro Rata) Level 4 SCHADS Award 2010 + Superannuation (pay point dependent on qualifications and experience) Part time 0.6FTE ongoing position ...

www.vacro.org.au

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Reposted by Dr. Abigail Lewis

Ben Eltham @beneltham.bsky.social · Apr 6

International students are perhaps the most unfairly attacked demographic in all of Australia. We invite them here. The reason they come is to get an education. Most are incredibly nice people who benefit our country in all sorts of ways. They massively cross-subsidise domestic students.

Nick Feik @nickfeik.bsky.social · Apr 6

Utterly moronic decision-making by BOTH duopoly parties - sacrificing the hugely important education sector when it should be thriving, all because they’re incapable of tough decisions on real estate investment rorts.
Cutting students is not the solution to housing.

amp.abc.net.au/article/1051...

Coalition pledges to limit new international student enrolments to 240,000 per year - ABC News

amp.abc.net.au

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Reposted by Dr. Abigail Lewis

Nick Feik @nickfeik.bsky.social · Apr 6

Utterly moronic decision-making by BOTH duopoly parties - sacrificing the hugely important education sector when it should be thriving, all because they’re incapable of tough decisions on real estate investment rorts.
Cutting students is not the solution to housing.

amp.abc.net.au/article/1051...

Coalition pledges to limit new international student enrolments to 240,000 per year - ABC News

amp.abc.net.au

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Reposted by Dr. Abigail Lewis

Nick Feik @nickfeik.bsky.social · Apr 6

Australia could be taking advantage of the millions of students now too scared to go to university in America.
Instead both Dutton and Albanese are threatening to *massively reduce* intl student numbers.

Carl T. Bergstrom @carlbergstrom.com · Apr 6

Even without ICE's horrible abuses, a pattern of arbitrarily revoking student visas makes the US no longer a viable schooling option for international students.

Bringing them to the US has been one of our strongest sources of soft power.

Everything this fucking guy does benefits Putin.

Elissa Taub @ejtaub.bsky.social · Apr 5

This is happening to students at colleges & universities nationwide. Their status is bring terminated & visa revoked. Often, the student has no obvious history to justify the govt's actions. Affected students should seek knowledgeable immigration counsel immediately.

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