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Northe Takes Aim at Public Housing Rent Increases

Russell Northe writes to Minister for House on rental price increase in public housing.

By Portal Admin - 5th August 2019 - Back to News

Member for Morwell Russell Northe has again written to the Minister for Housing expressing his disappointment at the management of the recent public housing rental price increases.

"I had previously written to the Minister in relation to the application of excessive rental increases for local public housing tenants; however the Ministers response to these serious issues was rather disappointing" Mr Northe said.

The Minister referenced that rental rebates were available for some tenants but the facts are that even when these rebates have been applied some tenants have incurred real rental increases beyond 20% at one point in time, which is grossly unfair and unjust.

Mr Northe has continued to receive numerous complaints from tenants who remained concerned on what impact these escalating rental costs are having upon them, particularly when one is on an aged pension and this is your only source of income.

"Some residents have said stated they will be forced to endure a long cold winter as they try to balance this excessive rent increase whilst also contending with the rising costs of energy and higher cost of living expenses" said Mr Northe.

Mr Northe has questioned the Minister on how much revenue the State Government expects to receive from these unfair and unjust public housing rental increases, and what actions tenants can undertake in contesting the severity of these same increases.

"The State needs to reassess the process they have undertaken to calculate the way they apply public housing rent and consider taking into account current energy prices, cost of living expenses and any other possible hardships that one may be experiencing" Mr Northe said.

Source: www.gippsland.com

Published by: support@gippsland.com