HOUSING Minister Wendy Lovell is being called on to make it easier to evict nuisance public housing tenants in Frankston.
The decision by Frankston Council to meet and lobby Ms Lovell follows harrowing accounts of drug use and intimidation and violence against residents living near houses provided by the Department of Human Services.
Councillors believe the city has more than its fair share of low-cost public housing.
Demand for changes to the way DHS handles its tenants comes at the same time that figures show the state has slashed $247 million from its spending on social housing. Frankston and parts of neighbouring Mornington Peninsula come near the top of the state’s long waiting lists for public housing.
Although Cr Glenn Aitken gave Monday’s council meeting graphic descriptions of torment and abuse meted out to residents by public housing tenants, he told The Times that he left out one case “because it would attract too much bad attention to the city”.
“The minister has to make the eviction process simpler,” he told The Times on Thursday. “There needs to be a clear agreement with tenants that they must abide by guidelines, the same as private commercial tenants.”
Cr Aitken detailed one DHS property to which police or ambulances had been called “more than 40 times over three years”.
He said there had been fights on the nature strip outside the house, drug overdoses and visits by members of bikie gangs, “but it seems DHS didn’t know. The system seems to break down and the information was not fed back to DHS.”
While being careful to stress “there can be no blanket view taken to all people who are in DHS housing” Cr Aitken said “where there are problems, they become huge problems”.
Cases outlined by Cr Aitken include:
– The possession of illegal firearms, possession and dealing of drugs, generating noise to such extent that it causes a total invasion of the proper peace and harmony of adjoining neighbours, and in some instances an entire local area.
– Foul or abusive language, including violent and unpredictable behaviour.
– Intimidation, bullying, harassing or targeting of neighbours who protest against such behaviour and even those who silently try to endure it.
– Deplorable maintenance of properties, thus further impacting upon the general amenity of the area.
Cr Aitken said DHS faced huge damage bills after evicting tenants from properties “that have been scandalously abused by the tenants”.
“They ultimately move on to ruin yet another property they are placed in. These points in turn cause massive community upheaval.”
Cr Aitken said he had seen residents “breaking down in tears” through fear of reprisal.
“[They are] afraid to leave their home or go on a holiday or leave pets in the yard because of bated or implied payback [from residents of DHS properties],” he said.
“It is not uncommon for people to sell their home to escape from a highly abusive or dangerous scenario which they have in no way contributed to but are finally forced out for the safety of their family and children.
“One recent incident involved an older man and his wife whose home has been put under siege with a death threat painted on a nearby fence, beer bottles hurled repeatedly at their home smashing in explosive shards of glass, along with other objects or missiles being hurled repeatedly.”
Constant heckling and invasion of their property had reduced the couple’s life to a wreck.
“She is now very uncomfortable in her own home; he was advised to take anti-depressants, which then impacts upon his employment,” Cr Aitken said.
“I have seen lives ruined through this sort of behaviour. People lives’ broken. All hope gone.”
Cr Aitken said the DHS was failing in its duty of care to the community by not controlling the actions of its tenants, detrimentally “leaving nearby residents in absolute grief sometimes over not months, but years”.
