During the holiday season public tenants received letters from Minister for Family and Community Services Pru Goward urging them to declare their unauthorised occupants and to phone a “dob in” phone line to report their neighbours.
The Minister has announced an amnesty on back rent for unauthorised tenants for Housing NSW tenants that declare between January 21 and March 17. The move is aimed to increase the amount of rent collected and encourage reporting of undeclared occupants.
“The NSW Government is giving tenants two months to declare all additional occupants. Tenants who do the right thing and declare additional occupants will have their rent adjusted from the date of declaration, and will not be charged back rent,” Ms Goward said. “However, tenants with undeclared occupants who do not take advantage of the amnesty will forfeit protection offered under the amnesty and risk being charged back rent … If you are doing the wrong thing, don’t declare it and we catch you, you risk having to repay thousands of dollars and could face eviction.”
Local welfare services have raised concerns about the communication of the amnesty, claiming the language used by the Minister has caused unnecessary anxiety for some of the most vulnerable residents already struggling to make ends meet, many living on only $35 a day.
Greens housing spokesperson Jan Barham responded to the media release from the Minister’s office, which was entitled “Report a Rorter: Crackdown to Catch Unauthorised Occupants”, by saying the plan “demonises tenants while ignoring the real problems facing our public housing system”.
The SSH spoke to Mike Shreenan, EO of The Factory Community Centre whose team works with social housing residents on a regular basis. He said: “An amnesty can be very effective, depending on the manner in which it is delivered. It should be about people being able to declare something without fear of reprisal; however, when you hold an amnesty whilst encouraging people to report their ‘rorter’ neighbours it will probably induce more fear, rather than trust, and undermine what they are rightly trying to achieve.”
Tenants were notified by personally addressed letters delivered during January. Some residents felt they were being accused by the department when they had done nothing wrong. The Minister’s office advised the SSH that another round of letters would be mailed soon as some people might not have received the notice due to the holidays.
Mr Shreenan acknowledged that “there are reports of overcrowding and people staying in people’s homes without the department’s permission and this can lead to a variety of problems – from health and safety issues, to neighbour disputes, in addition to the economic loss for the government”.
He asserts, however, that the reasons are many and complex: “Often people have unauthorised occupants because they have family who are homeless and they feel obliged to help. There are carers. There are those at the start of a new relationship who are not ready to make the commitment of a joint tenancy. There are those who fear the possibility of having permission rejected and fear it would jeopardise their own tenancy. In some cases people are being stood over and they don’t want them in the house but are too afraid to seek helped to have them removed.”
While the amnesty may assist the last group, Mr Shreenan points to the real problem as the lack of public housing stock to meet demand. “The real solution, we believe, is in more affordable and public housing with the appropriate place management and support for tenants with high needs.”
