MORE than 300 ACT Housing tenants – including older people, people with chronic health issues and people with disability – have been shocked to receive letters informing them that they will need to vacate their properties, an act the ACT Council of Social Service (ACTCOSS) has today (March 2) condemned as “heartless”.

Many tenants have been living in their homes for decades.

ACTCOSS CEO Dr Emma Campbell said that many of the residents were deeply distressed to suddenly receive a notice to vacate and that the ACT Government had failed to ensure proper assistance was in place for tenants affected by the government’s public housing renewal program.

“To send these types of letters, without adequate support in place for tenants, is incredibly callous and cruel,” she said, calling on the Housing Minister Yvette Berry and ACT Housing to immediately review the program and to resource independent legal and advocacy services to represent impacted tenants.

The ACT government’s Growing and Renewing Public Housing program gave public housing tenants in Canberra the chance to move out of their homes to newer homes so older sites could be sold to raise revenue or be redeveloped into modern public housing.

“ACTCOSS and other partners have provided advice to the Growing and Renewing program in good faith. Our strong advice to the government included the need for tenants to be able to access independent and well-resourced advocacy supports. However, this latest step suggests that our advice has been disregarded,” Dr Campbell said.

“Community organisations, including community legal services, have been overwhelmed with calls from distressed tenants desperate for support to avoid eviction from their homes. It is unclear what criteria has been used for determining which tenants received a letter. Many of these houses are perfectly adequate and have tenants who wish to remain in the property.

“However, we do note that many of the properties happen to be located on high-value land.

“Some of these tenants have lived in their homes for more than 50 years and have invested significant amounts in upkeep and renovation. Some residents are elderly or are people with disability and are located close to family and support networks,” said Dr Campbell.

Dr Campbell said the notification process had been heartless and cruel with:

• no support offered to individuals receiving the letter aside from a list of telephone numbers,
• tenants reporting that the Tenant Relocation Team hotline was not in operation when they called; and
• no additional funding or resources provided to the community organisations tasked with managing calls from distressed tenants.

Dr Campbell said: “The fact that properties are built on high value land that the ACT government wishes to sell should not be a reason to order public housing tenants out of their homes. Many of the individuals involved are highly vulnerable, including people with dementia or complex mental health issues.”