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Friday, March 9, 2012

Evictions increase under 3-strikes

Further to our story last year about the WA policy of evictions...
This story appeared in the The West online newspaper
The Department of Housing has almost doubled the number of evictions of public housing tenants under its three-strikes policy in the past 13 months.
An explosion at a clandestine drug laboratory in a suburban home in March prompted Housing Minister Troy Buswell to harden the rules.

Department statistics released to _The West Australian _ show there were 55 evictions from public housing because of disruptive behaviour between January 1 last year and January 31 this year.
This compared with 31 evictions for bad behaviour in the preceding 14 months.
Housing Department general manager of service delivery Steve Parry said under the strengthened disruptive behaviour management strategy, 925 first strikes, 338 second strikes and 114 third strikes had been issued in the same period. Tenants can be evicted after three strikes but it is not automatic.
In that time 55 tenancies were terminated, compared with 31 evictions for disruptive behaviour from November 2009 to the end of 2010.
"The department considers the substantial drop in the number of strikes issued between first and subsequent strikes to be evidence of the strategy's effectiveness," Mr Parry said.
Just eight evictions had been ordered under the policy in the eight months to March last year when Mr Buswell ordered a review of the eviction policy.
The review was ordered after it emerged the department had ignored several complaints about antisocial behaviour at a Carlisle public housing residence where a drug laboratory exploded.
Under the new rules, the period for accumulation of three strikes was extended from six months to 12 months. Offensive behaviour was also put into three categories, the worst of which could lead to immediate eviction without warning.
But WA Council of Social Service chief executive Irina Cattalini said yesterday it was concerned that the hardened rules penalised tenants trying to deal with problems such as mental illness or drug and alcohol abuse.
Alana Buckley-Carr, The West Australian February 27, 2012, 5:07 am

8 comments:

  1. I think it is about time that housing started taking action against the bad tenants.
    more of it needs to be seen in NSW look at the current news on today tonight and a current affair.. no more needed to be said

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  2. So bloody true, NSW Housing Parramatta is a joke. I am actually one of the good tennatns with a young 9 year boy and have been waiting 5 yrs for an esculated at risk transfer, In the 5 five years I have experienced so much heart ache, have gotten depression and anxiety. I have written to 3 different ministers, made formal complaints called the police over 40 times, taken 2 AVO out on these tennants, and NOTHING. My son has witnessed these people harrass, abuse and threaten me since he was 5!!! All because I am a single mum with standards and keep my house clean and don't use drugs etc etc. To get an offer from housing I thought was so lucky to have a secure roof over my familys head, it has been nothing but 5 years of hell....
    The staff change constantely, they leave and then your complalints and house maintenacne never gets done. I have thought about leaving so many times but I could never afford private rent in Sydney, its so expensive. Instead of housing providing a safe and secure roof over our head they have caused me so much tears and heartache they need to be accountable!!!

    I am an educated lady but have been left exhausted and so tired of fighting for our rights which they don't even acknowledge, that's just the problem with Housing - their attuitudes stink and they really don't care how they are and have destroyed so many lives of good, honest and decent people whom just want to try and get ahead in life and not
    worse off then when they first moved in.

    Sylvia.

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  3. they need to put this practice into all DOH states!. if this is working in WA then i dont see why Victoria and other states dont follow the same lead. Its obvious that they need strict policys so we can get rid of all the ferals and live among decent,recpectful tenants.instead of being lenient on these so called humans,its time they realize that anti-social behaviour is not acceptable.And im fed up with ferals using there alcohol and drugs as an excuse to behave badly;if they can afford to spend so much money supporting their bad habits,then they can afford to get out and in live private housing and leave us decent tenants alone!.

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  4. mates its hardly even working in WA, depends what there entitled too, to put it lightly

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  5. It seems in Victoria the bad tenants have all the rights and support networks. They are given support workers to keep them in their property which in many cases only encourages and exacerbates their dodgy and bullying behaviour. Try getting advice and support on how to deal with a tenant from Hell and all doors close, instead you are made to feel like a troublemaker, an inconvenient "uncool" dibber dobber.
    Obviously many housing workers aren't experienced enough, one of mine once put the responsibility onto me. She said "what was I doing to fix the problem"?
    Yes, I'll develop superpowers and remove the drug dealing child neglecting/abusing anti social neighbours and all their drug affected cohorts and do their job for them.
    Unbelievable.

    There has to be a balance. While I'm the last person in the World who wants anyone evicted and homeless, why can't Dept of Human Services at least move the bad tenants to a new location?
    Why is it always the good tenants who are forced to flee?

    Thinking of suing DHS for mental anguish over my bad tenants. Seems like the only way to be affective is through the hip pocket.

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  6. In Victoria it is impossible to get the Department of Housing to act on reports of any concern about dangerous public housing tennants. Despite making threats to kill on 2 different occasions to 2 diffferent neighbours and taunting, harrasing and bullying neighbours for years on end- dhs would not act. And what followed 4 days later was an attempt to run one neighbour with his car, exposing himself to neighbours, threatening neighbours with a sledge hammer and a machette, and threats to firebomb everybody's homes-yet dhs refused to act. The next day the tennant in question attacked another neighbour with the machette and sledge hammer causing very seriously injury that resulted multiple deep lacerations and internal damage. The poor bloke will not be walking for monthes-yet dhs still refuse to act...under the Office of Housing (Frankston) we will continue to live in fear.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Dhs ringwood are no better. Continuing burnouts in street and screaming obscenities at neighbors is rewarded rather than punished

      Delete
  7. I realise that this thread is about a year or so old but I am just losing it. For 3 years I've been living next to a public housing unit complex, however I am actually renting through a real estate. Recently the noise has been getting worse. Heavy bass rap music playing 24/7. In the past month alone I've called the local police at least 20 times and nothing ever gets done. They fight in their yards, throwing bottles, screaming, even as far as coming into our backyard at night, trespassing on our property trying to steal our belongings. My family and I cannot live like this. Especially living with a 7 year old having to hear this. Each night I get less sleep and I fear I am going insane. I have contacted the Department of Housing, well online. I filled out a misconduct form and hope they do something. But it's not just the one unit of course. I am at wits end. We are Trying so hard to get out of here and to just move to a safer area. But with real estates, they are making it difficult with the wait time. They aren't even interested about what is going on.

    ReplyDelete

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