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Thursday, August 1, 2013

Termites in Housing

I have just finished reading the 42 page "summary" of the Auditor General's report on HNSW.
There was nothing surprising in it.
Too few houses plus too many people... no brainer that one!
Stock depletion and maintenance deficit... yep, situation normal.
Under-occupancy got quite a run - with very few practical solutions.



The equation goes like this: Lack of houses = problems with allocation (only those on the most critical priority list are being housed) = creation of slums (high concentration of people with "complex" needs) = high crime and anti-social behaviour = higher costs to HNSW and less rent revenue = less maintenance on existing stock = selling off assets = lack of houses.

You get the picture...

What was also not surprising is how littered the report was with phrases like "These ... initiatives have not been part of an overarching long-term plan to respond to the growing need. Nor has there been consistent monitoring and reporting on the effectiveness of interventions."

So, in other words, they are making it up as they go along. They implement policies with no idea whether it will work, no way to measure if it works, and don't care either way - coz they are happy and safe and warm in their cozy little public servant jobs.

Anyway - I managed to read the whole 42 page report while waiting on the phone for the call-centre to address my maintenance problem - TERMITES!

You know, those pesky little blighters who eat away slowly at the structure of a domicile, undermining the integrity, eroding the security until only a flimsy shell remains and then one day the whole thing collapses with a puff of wind...

The analogy was not lost on me.

6 comments:

  1. Loved your last paragragh!![lol].you have described the run of Public Housing so well!.

    ReplyDelete
  2. This is an interesting read: http://www.piac.asn.au/news/2013/10/skating-thin-ice-mental-illness-and-homelessness

    "The paper incudes case studies from PIAC’s Homeless Persons’ Legal Service. It includes the story a 57 year old woman with mental illness, who was a victim of child abuse. She received a notice of termination from Housing NSW in relation to her home of 18 years because of an error in Centrelink payments to Housing NSW. Then despite the negotiation of a payment plan, Housing commenced eviction proceedings."

    ReplyDelete
  3. Maybe a new post would be good, there are some changes that people need to know about. One of these is that any government department employee, can send mental health care services, together with police and ambulance, ready to take you away, if that government department employee thinks you will self harm, harm someone else or whatever an uneducated (a nurses aid has more qualifications, an ingrown toenail has more intelligence) government employee decides you are about. You are probably just distressed at being insulted or ignored (also insulting) when some work in your dwelling is in critical need of attention.

    If you were a home owner you would have no such transparency and no one would dare to insult and invade your privacy in such a way and you could sneak about being a genuine freak and a menace to society, but, hey, no transparency.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I have had Termites in my wall from November 2015 pesticides came once but the termites came back twice after that. I called back about 7 times since February even went to the doh office. still waiting hoping my house do not fall down. any advice or do i still keep calling?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The only course open to you is to just keep calling I'm afraid.
      Make sure you LOG every call; time, date and who you spoke to.

      Delete

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