Does the housing minister know how to read?
"Yvette Berry, as housing minister, has the unenviable reputation of being a failure in the adequate provision of social housing," writes "Canberra Matters" columnist PAUL COSTIGAN.
Housing ACT
"The proposed social housing units for a Griffith site didn't comply with the Australian Standard for Adaptable Housing, provided inadequate open space and unworkable parking," writes "Canberra Matters" columnist PAUL COSTIGAN.
Legal action on behalf of public-housing tenants facing eviction by the ACT government will begin on Friday (November 11) with a directions hearing in the ACT Supreme Court.
Confused? The ACT government pledged to the Commonwealth that cash from public housing land sales was going to fund light rail. The housing minister says, no they didn't. The chief minister's signature says otherwise.
Opinion
Housing ACT behaves like a ‘rogue’ developer
"If a Housing ACT development application sign appears in a neighbourhood, then locals know that significant changes may be about to happen to their neighbourhood character," writes "Canberra Matters" columnist PAUL COSTIGAN.
Politics
If Libs are so wrong, tell us where money’s gone
Where has the ACT government's much touted $699 million worth of budget promises to public housing gone? JON STANHOPE & KHALID AHMED can account for $81 million of it, after that, it's a question the Housing Minister won't answer…
News
Rather be dead than move, says evicted pensioner
“I’ll rather be dead than transferred to a new location,” saysd evicted pensioner Yvette van Loo.
The ACT Council of Social Service (ACTCOSS) says Housing ACT must be held to the same standard as private landlords following the release of a draft Bill that aims to ban the eviction of tenants without cause.
An elderly pensioner facing eviction by Housing ACT was given 10 minutes to explain why she should remain in her home of 41 years, during a process the former Chief Minister Jon Stanhope has described as “appalling”.
"As Vassarotti and Berry and Housing ACT continue with a process of evictions that lacks transparency and is causing deep distress to many older people. To others it's a campaign of government-sanctioned terror," says PAUL COSTIGAN.
A legally blind grandmother being forced out of her home of almost 30 years, is the ACT government’s latest target for relocation under its unpopular social-housing scheme.
"This is about forcing older people out of their homes – homes they were told till the beginning of this year were theirs for life or as long as they wished to remain in them," writes PAUL COSTIGAN.
Housing ACT has suddenly given tenants, mostly women and many of whom have been in their homes for decades, just two days to prepare for a formal hearing to argue why they should not be forcibly relocated.
"Housing ACT's callous evictions are happening during the federal election. The federal ACT Labor and ACT Greens candidates have been silent on this terrible state of affairs," writes "Canberra Matters" columnist PAUL COSTIGAN.
In an open letter to the ACT housing minister, a social housing tenant faced with eviction from her home of 40 years has condemned the government's housing renewal program as nothing more than a grab for money and an act of "unethical cruelty".
"To watch ministers Yvette Berry and Rebecca Vassarotti duck for cover behind meaningless bureaucrat spin is shameful. ACT politicians do not wish to be involved with residents feeling bullied by government processes," writes PAUL COSTIGAN.
"I would like to have my carpet replaced. It went down in 2002. Twenty years ago! The area manager checked – no future date has been set. What is it about the state of maintenance? It must be the light rail," writes a Housing ACT tenant.
"This government is failing when it comes to enhancing and maintaining the complexities of the tree canopy, the biodiversity and the green infrastructure of this city," says "Canberra Matters" columnist PAUL COSTIGAN.
Properties lie trashed and empty while more than 3000 people across the ACT wait more than four years for help from Housing ACT. What's gone wrong with social housing? NICK OVERALL reports
