Page 3252 - Week 10 - Tuesday, 18 October 2022
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communication to my office—far more than any other portfolio that I oversee. If we look at the correspondence and the communication that comes from the community to my office from my four portfolios, 90 per cent of it would come from this one.
I would like to acknowledge the directorate, including the Executive Group Manager of Housing ACT, all of the housing managers and staff in Housing ACT and also the contractors, who must, on a daily basis, deal with many, many challenges. I know that they all also understand the privilege involved in that, because we are dealing with people’s lives and we are dealing with the place that they spend most of their time. I want to extend my thanks to the community groups who support tenants and help those most in need. We all know and can see that there are some problems in social housing in the capital. I show appreciation for those who work in this space.
This problematic area should not stop us from the purpose, which is:
Housing ACT provides social housing that is appropriate, affordable and meets the needs and circumstances of low-income and disadvantaged people.
That, essentially, has to be the target of what we are doing. Is this achieved? The answer in far too many cases is no. In far too many cases it is not achieved. This is evident in the growing wait list and waiting times. It is even more evident from the significantly increasing transfer list, which, as of 12 October, was 1,065 current tenants wishing to transfer, waiting for priority on average 568 days—over one year for priority. This raises many questions about why so many people are requesting transfers.
I hear many stories coming through my office that relate to domestic violence, antisocial behaviour from neighbouring tenants, overcrowding in properties, unsuitable facilities, illegal activity in complexes, and the list goes on. It is not a pretty list. It is really not. I get back to the fact that most of the portfolio spaces that we deal with are in regard to things that affect people for some part of their day or for some part of their week or for some part of their month. But in this portfolio space we are talking often about things that impact heavily on people 24/7. If the housing purpose statement is to provide housing that is appropriate, affordable and meets the needs, why do so many need to move?
Housing ACT surveys tenants about whether they are satisfied or dissatisfied with the service, but no questions are asked as to why they might be dissatisfied. With the figure of satisfied tenants declining year on year, it would be very important to know why they are dissatisfied. It is great that the government is taking on that recommendation that was made at the hearings, and I very much look forward to reading the results, even though data is collected only every two years. I think the results will be pretty interesting.
We know that dwellings are inspected less than once per year. This is evident from the growing number of uninhabitable properties and properties that can no longer be maintained. So much of that problem gets down to years’ worth of lack of maintenance. In response to this line of questioning at the hearings, we were told that there is more than just inspections that occurs when working with tenants. That is great, but I guess we go back to the question of: why is it that public housing tenants
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