Since the听Robert Menzies Liberal government first began undermining the once great public housing scheme, state and federal governments have continued to favour听sell-offs to developers听over making safe, affordable housing听a basic human right.
顿别蝉辫颈迟别听迟丑别 , governments are selling off听,听continues.
shows as at听April 30听there were 65,758 households waiting for social housing: 11,161 were waiting for priority housing.听
Anglicare鈥檚听March听shows private rentals are now completely unaffordable for those on minimum wages or pension incomes. The result is an unprecedented power imbalance between landlords and tenants, which is driving a听.
It is a particularly perilous matrix when your landlord is also your government.
According to the听January ,听the term 鈥減ublic housing鈥 now includes state-owned and managed public housing, social housing, Indigenous housing, community housing and Indigenous community housing. The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare鈥檚听听report equates that to 824,000 people living in 446,000 dwellings.
Yet, despite record funding in the听, Labor is yet to rise to the enormity of the task,听amid听听failures.
Maintenance backlog
said听in June last year it had received 24,592 urgent maintenance requests for that financial year and conceded it was not keeping up. 鈥淲e know current response times on maintenance requests have deteriorated,鈥 it said in what can only be described as an understatement.
In response,听听promised a simpler process for logging and tracking repairs, saying management would go back to being in-house, but the work would still be done by contractors.
Tenants say the breakdown in communication between contractors and the department is the primary problem and going through the 鈥渃orrect channels鈥 to negotiate solutions has become pointless, with frustrations reaching boiling point.
Slater and Gordon, representing thousands of tenants living in substandard public housing in remote communities across Western Australia, has听 in the Federal Court of Australia.
A group of Canberra鈥檚 social housing tenants, who also want听their day in the , has had the way cleared for a class action against the ACT government over its plan to move them from their homes under its 鈥溾 program.
听may well be next, as desperate tenants increasingly seek听听and听听redress, saying the听听is rigged against them. The tenants say Homes NSW has still not addressed chronic maintenance delays and听,听as liveable but听.
Amid major difficulties with departmental communications,听听鈥斕齠amouslyclueless about how much it 听鈥斕齣s accused of refusing to engage directly with the community as contract maintenance and disabled modification systems continue to fail.
In posts to the听NSW Housing Misconduct Reporting听Facebook page, frustrated tenants took aim. 鈥淓lected officials have a responsibility to accurately represent and serve the people in social housing鈥澨.
鈥淓ngaging directly with the community would provide valuable insight.听Maintenance has not improved and residents continue to live in unacceptable conditions with significant safety concerns.鈥
Unsafe living conditions
Many of the problems the tenants raise have been well documented.听听as it has听.
听remains a significant issue as the听lingers and works schedules stall. Disabled tenants are being trapped in and out of units with听, creating catastrophic fire risk.
Tenants using walkers or wheelchairs are often unable to听 in their homes听due to the dysfunctional patchwork of schemes,听approvals and delays of the disabled modification scheme.听
Should a tenant have听听or a听,听the complexity of application only intensifies as departments play pass-the-parcel on costs and responsibility.
Some properties, for structural reasons, are unable to be appropriately modified.听Given the government鈥檚 continued championing of听the neoliberal model, it is unable to concede the听听it created leaves those tenants nowhere else to go.
While the public housing management merry-go-round continues, residents鈥 physical and mental health is suffering as they mourn more members of their communities.听New data shows a 听among people experiencing homelessness, with people dying decades earlier than the general population because of critical shortages in housing and support services.
Inappropriate housing and lack of support services is also making mental health worse for public tenants, with often听.
A recent Mental Health Australia report,听,听said the government needs to do more to expand the availability of housing options, support sustained tenancies and improve early intervention and response services for the growing crisis in mental health.
One tenant, who wished to remain anonymous, told听一品探花听they had heard it all before. 鈥淭he government budgets billions and has a big press conference but, for us, nothing ever changes,鈥 they said. 鈥淎nd they treat us with such disrespect.鈥