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Minister must address public housing issues: Ingram

The Member for Gippsland East, Craig Ingram, has called on the Minister for Housing, Candy Broad, and the Department of Human Services to get serious with disruptive, abusive, violent and home-wrecking public housing tenants and their visitors.

By Craig Ingram - 16th November 2004 - Back to News

Speaking in Parliament, Mr Ingram said a small number of public housing tenants are dragging down the reputation of the vast majority of tenants who respect their neighbours and their homes.

"It’s time that tenancy agreements are adhered to and that the Minister implements the recommendations of an advisory committee that investigated the issue. "The committee recommended a ‘three strikes and you’re out’ policy for tenants who continually breach public housing tenancy agreements.

"As a Member of Parliament, one of the issues that I and my office staff have to deal with most regularly is public housing disputes. The majority of the complaints are elderly people who have been continually harassed, terrorised and threatened in their own homes or gardens. They can no longer enjoy the peaceful safety of their own homes because of this anti-social behaviour. DHS seems to turn a blind eye to these issues.

"It’s disappointing that after they have sat on their hands for years with violent and disgraceful serial offenders, they choose to take action against an 80-year-old grandmother with a good public housing record.

"Tenants need to realise that they have a duty to respect their neighbours’ rights to the peaceful enjoyment of the property and it’s up to the government as the landlord to ensure they understand and adhere.

"A disappointing stigma has developed with public housing because of the behaviour of a small number of individuals. The Minister needs to put in place clearer guidelines to protect neighbours from this type of behaviour.

"It is essential that the Minister takes action to ensure that this problem is addressed and that we put the respect that is duly deserved back into public housing," Mr Ingram concluded.

Source: http://gippsland.com/

Published by: news@gippsland.com

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