A revelation that tenants trashing public housing are costing more than ten million dollars a year in repairs has resulted in a demand that the tenancy laws be tightened to make it easier to "throw the bum's out "!
As things stand, complaints against public housing tenants are dealt with by the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal. It has a poor record of ordering evictions and recently the fifty-one cases appearing before it resulted in just fifteen orders to vacate. Getting a hearing before the Tribunal is also a long and tedious process.
This is a twofold problem. Some tenants facing eviction wilfully trash the premises, kicking holes in walls and making the place unliveable. They simply melt into the wide diaspora with a changed name and completely avoid responsibility for the damage they have caused. Then there is the anguish they have caused their neighbours during their tenancy. In many instances they hold wild parties and have hoon friends with noisy cars - who like to play music loudly, and drug dealing can do a lot to damage the reputation of a neighbourhood.
Neighbours who complain to the Tribunal face an unpleasant quandary. They are asked to appear at the hearing and voice their evidence to support an eviction, and have to go home to that same angry person next door in revenge mode. In many cases, there is a very reasonable fear of a physical confrontation - resulting in injury.
Public housing was never intended as a home for life. Rental is geared to just twenty-five percent of a tenant's income, hence a person on the dole pays very little. There is the expectation that a tenant will move to accommodation appropriate to their circumstances as this changes and when their earnings improve they will either buy a home or move to a more affluent private rental.
It is evident that the Tribunal faces anguish in deciding to order eviction. In some cases the tenants are a perfectly respectable elderly couple who have had adult children move in with them - and bring a regime of wild parties, heavy drinking and very noisy friends. It is essential that the Tribunal have the power to order the eviction of individuals rather than merely terminating the entire tenancy. In such a case, the Sheriff should have the responsibility of seeing that the order is carried out.
The doctrine of making decisions for the common good needs to apply. Public housing has a 58,000 waiting list and this property is a public asset. The vast majority of public housing tenants pay their rent on time, take good care of the property, maintain the garden and have pride in their neighbourhood. It is the few "bad eggs "that spoil the omelet !
The main need is for speedy decision making and a fast hearing before the Tribunal. The present long and tedious process usually results in time to extend the neglect and damage - and it is unwise to expect neighbours to put themselves at risk by openly giving evidence. The public housing administration needs it's own investigation staff to collect video evidence and take responsibility for weeding out bad tenants. The very fact that such a team exists would most likely lead to an improvement in many cases.
The present slothful regime that seems to drag on forever brings no fear to wrong doers. The need for a change is paramount !
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