Columnist HUGH SELBY returns to the plight of little Dion and his gran and their dreadful life as ACT Housing tenants with a leaking roof, mould, a non-opening bedroom window, water-damaged plaster and an about-to-fall-off-the-wall toilet cistern, and wonders how things got so bad. 

A few days ago we shared little Dion’s lament about what he and his Gran have to put up with daily, courtesy of ACT Housing.

Dion could not have known the full extent of the debacle that has culminated in his home environment having a leaking roof, mould, non-opening bedroom window, water-damaged plaster, non-venting laundry, dangerous toilet base and an about-to-fall-off-the-wall cistern, missing and loose wall and floor tiles.

Dion’s outside space is unusable because of druggie-used syringes, tree roots, suckers, sizable dead trees dropping branches, uneven and cracked concrete slabs, dangerous rusting iron, poorly installed gutters and drainpipes, and roof tile mortar falling off the roof edge.

But that’s only half of it. 

You see, and I mean that literally, anyone entering Dion and his gran’s home is met by new carpet, a new kitchen, and the whole inside freshly painted.  

Thousands of dollars have been spent.

It beggars belief that all this money was spent without any basic inspection of the roof, the plumbing, the electrics and taking out the trash.

This brick-veneer home on a concrete slab was well built around 1988.  With proper maintenance it can be a home for many years to come.

Is it too much to ask that ACT Housing sets out to keep its tenants safe and dry?

To do that they need to follow the basics including: up-to-date electrical switchboards; watertight roofs, skylights and vents; working gutters and downpipes; properly vented rooms where there are no windows; safely and properly opening doors and windows; repair of water damage to ensure no electrical  hazards and no mould; and, removal of dead trees and dangerous materials outside.

Will someone act responsibly?

If the painter, carpet layer, and kitchen installer worked on this house on a wet day what did they think? Surely none of them would have wanted to live in the place.

They would have used the toilet with its loose base, loose cistern, loose tiles and water-damaged wall plaster. No doubt they all thought: “Not in my house, not now, not ever”. And they would have those thoughts whether it was a rainy or a sunny day.

If it was raining then they got at least a wet head when they used the john. Surely the water dripping on to their noses would have prompted the thought: “Um, this isn’t good, not for us, not for tenants, not for anyone”.

Let’s suppose that for some inexplicable reason ACT Housing does not use qualified tradies to inspect a vacated home and assess the needed maintenance, the order in which tasks need to be done (roofing is up the top of the list, painting is a late job), and the likely cost.

Even so, ACT Housing must surely send a properly qualified person to inspect the finished works for sign off, and to ensure that the condition of the property is accurately recorded before new tenants move in.

That certainly didn’t happen in this case. A short inspection now provides  incontrovertible evidence of failure. Whether this was a one off calamity or part of a pattern I do not know.  Perhaps a few readers will briefly share their good and bad stories in the comments section.

Thermos gangs

There’s a skills shortage. One way to tackle that problem is to entice retired tradies back to occasional work, offering respect, a payment that doesn’t put their pension/superannuation payments at risk, working with others they know to be skilled, and enjoying a group cuppa.

Have the scheme managed by a respected, well-established organisation that has a track record for managing volunteers and part timers, reliable scheduling and payment systems. 

It also needs to run an effective feedback system from all those engaged, so that accurate information is collected for each dwelling, jobs can be prioritised, and the remedial works done by appropriately skilled trades people.

Dion is our future

Little Dion (who took the time away from his toys last week to write to us) is about 15 years away from getting a paying job, becoming an apprentice, going to university, or joining the ADF.  

When he chooses his future I’d like to think that he is going to get training that instils the simple truths that inputs guide outputs, that doing a job well from the get go is the only worthwhile way to tackle a job, and that it’s a real pleasure to look at a job well done and say, “I did that” or, “I contributed to that”.

His gran has kept notes on the various people who have been sent by ACT Housing to inspect and fix the problems. A couple have been experienced, problem focused, easy to understand.

But others. Oh dear.  If you send someone to fix a problem with only a Band-Aid then that is the only solution. And a Band-Aid stuck on to a defective substrate is next to useless.

Dion represents every child. A worthwhile future depends on a good foundation.

Hugh Selby, a former barrister, is the CityNews legal columnist.

Little Dion wants Uncle Andrew and Aunt Yvette to look at his place