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Saturday, March 5, 2011

Keeping up with the FERALS

Further to our story about where all the money goes... the DoH tenant who trashed her 2 bedroom house and was rewarded by HNSW with a nice new 4 bedroom property, left this mess and a ~$5000 damage bill for Housing to take care of.

The rotting putrid pile in the backyard The patio

The kitchen which was only one year old The carpet which was new
The walls which were painted recently... And now it is boarded up and uninhabitable



The Feral problem affects everyone - DoH staff; the Good tenants; the thousands on the waiting list who would be grateful to have a lovely home like this; the local community watching their streets deteriorate into slums; and the taxpayer who ultimately foots the bill.

Seriously - what can we do about the Ferals? How do we make someone like this accountable for their behaviour and actions?
If they are turfed out of Housing altogether they just become homeless - and that just passes the buck to Charities.
When there are children involved, they are most likely already under the eye of DoCS - understaffed and overworked.
Where mental health issues are a factor, The Health Dept foots the bill.
More often than not, it is left up to the Police to become the front-line troops.
What can Housing do to manage their own problems and not just deflect it to other services?

Is there a practical and real solution?

16 comments:

  1. this is the typical pathetic thing that happens! y wasnt she made to pay for the clean up etc?? so not fair, I am wanting a 4 bedroom but cant get one because 'there arent any available' yes thats because people who dont even need the room or dont deserve it live in the nicer bigger places for some really stupid reason, housing is back the front and inside out!

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  2. I believe we have to get togethor and do some creative thinking, we all know it is awful and that we hate it, no point repeating the same old thing. This article poses the questions that a show like 'Insight' on SBS, would illuminate to one and all out there...but how do we get that sort of coverage? I don't know, does someone else know? There is a comedy going to start on ABC TV called Housos, yes, about us, this sickens me, and, is already raising hackles, not just in public housing...does anyone know how we could use this Housos show to spotlight on our reality?

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  3. I think with this new show Housos, it will be really important to distinguish between the two classes: The Ferals and The Normal tenants.

    If we can create the label and get it to stick in the media, then we can avoid being lumped into the same "houso pool" with the ferals.

    A bit like not all motorcyclists are Bikies.

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    Replies
    1. So well said , we are not all tarred with the same brush . Some of us do take pride in where we live .

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  4. i dont know why ive being made wait,12mths to get a security sliding door fixed,they told me i have to wait till its time for a property inspection,they wouldnt look into it even though i live alone,i contacted my local member,unfortunatley ,i was not home the next day,but was left a note on the front door,it was from the area manager,she only wanted to chew me out about going to local mem.its been 14 mths now and still not fixed!

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  5. If I remember correctly, security features MUST be fixed by public housing. When I moved and found none of my windows locked or stayed closed, a new neighbour told me to mention to public housing that, seeing as it was a security feature it would have to be done straight away...they probably didn't like it but they got it done, in any case you have every right as a citizen to go to your local member, that is why he/she is your local member.

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  6. Once again HNSW rewarding bad behaviour. It would be nice if they looked after tenants that maintained there property instead of wasting the money on these individuals...

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  7. Well, I'm sick of maintaining their property. When we first moved here, I mowed the lawn and edges every 10 days. Cleaned windows and washed the house regularly. Then it rained for 3 weeks straight and my wife was having a miscarriage. A new "woman" became our area manager. She drives down the street at 60km/hr and decides our lawn is long. She never picked on the 50 others in the street that only mow twice a year. Writes us a letter saying, "The state of the lawn is TOTALLY UNACCEPTABLE" and "if it is not brought to a sufficient standard by such-and-such a date YOU WILL BE EVICTED."

    Huh!? This was the first time in five years I hadn't mowed the lawn! Then they (eventually) send morons that break more things than they repair. So now I maintain their property when *I* feel like it - just like everyone else in the street.

    Depressing yes, but why fight against the tide.

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  8. THE FERALS! i dont care if they are mentally ill, drug addicted,or had shitty lives as children. you are wot you are, a burden to society. good people are being overlooked while the 'ferals'are being rewarded for their incompetance. put them on the street. its called natural selection. y should my children have to be exposed to such lowlifes!!!

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  9. doh hve refused to give me window screens on windows that dont lock properly and house is less then 5klm from a garbage tip so cannot hve any windows open in spring or summer due to excess flies

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  10. Ditto, Ditto Ditto. Sick of the hopeless and lazy being rewarded and the functioning and decent being overlooked. Have to say though, my local office is really heplfull and approachable. Security matters always fixed asap. Our local maintainence company are slack and inefficient but must work cheap because they are still given contracts. Even when we recently got new paint and a new kitchen (after 20 years)the process was a stuff up from the start and we were made to feel as though we should be so grateful that we would accept sub-standard work, by the company not the DHS.

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  11. I am a property manager and hear this all the time... every tenant thinks they are perfect, and nobody deserves to have a property with housing except THEM. Get off your butts like I had to when I was a single mum, get a J O B and earn MONEY that is not handed to you for NOTHING and rent a property on the regular rental market and stop whinging. I know DOH do nothing on their properties, but why sit there and whinge when you dont have to put up with it? Move. Get motivated, get a job, and MOVE
    Kelly

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    Replies
    1. As a property manager, if that's what you really are, you of all people should know that there are lots of DoH tennents that do work. I have been employed continuously for 25 years and have been in DoH for 20 years. We all have a right to public housing, that's what it is PUBLIC housing. I have a disability that stops me from working full time so I work part time and pay quite high rent, still cheaper than private but still a lot. Why should we put up with public servants who don't do their job just because we live in public housing. I have a right to expect a decent level of security and a decent home to live in. glad you are not my property manager with an attitude like that...

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  12. I see people people trashing their places in all areas around Belmont wa they are mostly indigenous people sometimes having up to 8 people living with them in a one bedroom unit . I visit my friends who are in department of housing and the neighbours are very noisy because of the amount of people and children living in a one bedroom unit (DOH dont know about it ) my friend complained and was told he is racist ??? he is not as some of his family are married to indigenous people and they are lovely . But he has threats from them and so have I when visiting him , told I am to have my face smashed in and my car trashed ?? I dont know these people and have done nothing to them . Anyway the place is now trashed out and unlivable because of the damage done by these people , yet nothing is done the 3 strikes rule does not apply here and he has complained many times and so has his other neighbours yet nothing done ???

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  13. yes this is disgusting i agree with the tentants d.o.h need to get there act together as there are people that care about where and how they live i know people that do nothing but clean and improve their homes everyday i have been a single parent for a long time and had little choice to live d.o.h with my children but we appreiated what we had and looked after our home we might not of owned it like many but it wasa roof over our heads and we looked after it another problem is d.o.h puts all their efforts in 1 place minto got a facelift them macquarie feilds what happened to the areas like miller,sadlier,ashcroft,lurnea,cartright which are older then the other areas and really i mean really need some facelift and changesthey places are really falling apart need help badly what do u think dapartment of housing come on help those that need help not the ones that trash houses and dont care

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  14. I do not understand why tenants aren't compelled to pay for damage. Perhaps it varies from State to State. I had to pay when our dog broke the back window twice (I was working and away for long periods of the day so he tried to get in). I didn't mind paying. My neighbour is paying off the crap carpet she ripped up in her old unit from a few years ago.

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