Residential Tenancies Amendment (Social Housing) Bill
Page: 18804
Second Reading
The Hon. HENRY TSANG (Parliamentary Secretary) [11.44 a.m.]: I move:
That this bill be now read a second time.
I seek leave to have the second reading speech incorporated in Hansard.
Leave granted.
The Residential Tenancies Amendment (Social Housing) Bill 2005 provides the legislative foundations to implement the NSW Government Plan for Reshaping Public Housing, announced by the then Premier on 27 April 2005.
These reforms are consistent with the Government's approach of delivering social justice through sound economic and program administration. The reforms focus on the fair allocation of scarce resources to those most in need in our community, the fostering of tenant responsibility, the promotion of efficient and effective operations and significant investment in the renewal of public housing.
The NSW Government is committed to allocating the valuable resource of public housing to those most in need because this approach delivers the best outcomes. Well-targeted public housing assistance provides the opportunity to maximise the outcomes of health, welfare, educational and support services provided to tenants by other NSW agencies. It provides the best outcome for Government and, more importantly, for the people in our community in greatest need.
The Reshaping Public Housing reforms announced in April this year are intended to ensure that public housing is well placed to assist those in greatest need. Over time, with declining Commonwealth contributions to public housing and with demographic and social changes, public housing has increasingly been focused on those most in need. The NSW Government's challenge is to make effective use of limited resources given the growth in demand for public services by those who require support.
The Reshaping Public Housing reforms respond to this challenge. In summary, they provide for:
• Eligibility for public housing to be based on the concept of housing need, rather than the traditional measure of income level as the primary eligibility criterion;
• An end to the policy of public housing for life to be replaced by assistance for the duration of the need through a range of renewable leases from two years to ten years;
• Changes to rent and water charging policies to ensure that public housing tenants make a fair contribution, with this contribution being invested—along with a significant level of State funding above CSHA requirements—to significantly renew the public housing asset base.
Much of this reform package can be implemented without legislative change. However, there is a need for legislative reform in relation to a number of key elements and to ensure a smooth implementation. This Bill proposes amendments to the Residential Tenancies Act 1987 and consequent amendments to three acts: the Housing Act 2001; the Aboriginal Housing Act 1998; and the Real Property Act 1900 to provide for these reforms.
In summary, this Bill achieves six key outcomes:
• It institutes a structured and fair process whereby the eligibility to continue in public housing can be assessed at the end of a lease and allows for termination where the tenant is determined to be no longer eligible
• It makes several amendments to the Residential Tenancies Act to ensure that tenants are treated consistently and the Department has appropriate operational flexibility following the introduction of fixed term leases
• It allows the Department to charge tenants for water usage costs
• It adds a number of tenant protection clauses in relation to the revision of market rents
• It is structured so that these changes also apply to the Aboriginal Housing Office and could potentially apply to Community Housing following consultation with that sector, and
• It amends the objects of the Housing Act and the Aboriginal Housing Act to ensure they are consistent with the reforms
I will discuss each of these outcomes in turn.
First, the Bill institutes a structured and fair process whereby the eligibility to continue in public housing can be assessed at the end of a lease and allows for termination where the tenant is determined to be no longer eligible.
Public housing is an important aspect of a fair society because it can offer so many opportunities to those most vulnerable in our society. Currently, however, if a person does not breach their tenancy agreement, they can enjoy the benefits of public housing for life, regardless of their housing need.
The Reshaping reforms change this. All new tenants from 1 July 2005 will be placed on a fixed term lease that will commence from some time after 1 July 2006. The terms of these tenancy agreements will vary from 2 to 10 years, depending on the type of need. The 10 year leases will be aimed at households which are most in need and will remain in that state for some time to come. These may include elderly pensioners or those with ongoing disabilities. The five year lease will be aimed at households such as families with children at school and whose circumstancesmay change when their children's schooling is complete or households in which the parents are undertaking training to move into the workforce or change jobs.
The two year lease is aimed at those households whose need for public housing is most likely to be of a passing nature. This may include young tenants with no family support or those experiencing homelessness and who are in need of time to address the issues they face. At the end of these agreements, tenants will have to demonstrate an ongoing need for public housing. This will provide fairer access to a social housing system that both promotes responsibility and meets the needs of the disadvantaged well into the future. In order to operationalise this, the social housing landlord (that is, the Department of Housing, the AHO or potentially a Community Housing operator) must be able to both review the ongoing eligibility of the tenant and, if they are no longer eligible, terminate their tenancy. This is a distinct and separate ground for termination that is not a part of the current Act and allows the Department to pursue its policy goals as earlier indicated.
Section 63B provides a new grounds for termination of a tenancy agreement where the tenant has failed the eligibility review. Tenancies will be renewed if the housing need still exists. It is, however, the duty of responsible Government to focus on those in serious need for public housing. As the current legislation does not allow for the social housing landlord to ask those no longer in need to move on following the review of a completed fixed term tenancy, it is this Government's duty to respond to this. If a tenant no longer has the housing need and could be accommodated in the private rental market, it is the public responsibility of the social housing landlord to ensure that the tenancy is not renewed in order to make room for someone in greater housing need
Section 63C of the Bill provides a process for the assessment of the eligibility of a tenant under a social housing tenancy agreement to continue residing in the social housing premises concerned. The criteria for eligibility will be established by guidelines approved by the Minister for Housing. This will allow the criteria for continued eligibility to vary from those used for assessing entry. For example, this could be used to permit tenants with moderate but insecure incomes—say from casual wages—to remain in public housing for a further period while they become more established. The eligibility assessment may only occur in the last six months of a fixed term tenancy.
Section 63D provides for a review process in cases where the landlord decides to issue a notice of termination on the ground that the tenant is no longer eligible. This process provides for notice to the tenant and for the tenant to make representations to the decision maker. This builds in important procedural fairness requirements. This section also provides for the Minister to make guidelines in relation to the appeals process. I undertake that in addition to the legislated requirement for an internal review of the decision, I would require in these guidelines that a second tier appeal would be available to the Housing Appeals Committee. The Housing Appeals Committee (or HAC) currently hears second tier appeals from Department of Housing decisions on a number of matters. Its recommendations are nearly always adopted by the Department. This will provide a useful and credible oversight function.
In addition to this, Schedule 1 (3) of the Bill amends section 14 (A) of the Principal Act to enable a landlord under a social housing tenancy agreement to declare, by notice given to the tenant, that the agreement is subject to a fixed term from a date specified in the notice. This is most important because, under current legislation, when a fixed-term tenancy is not renewed, the tenancy lapses to a continuous tenancy. This is in direct conflict with the intention of public housing being available to those most in need which is facilitated by issuing fixed term tenancies subject to an assessment of such need.
The second key outcome of the Bill is that it makes several amendments to the Residential Tenancies Act and to the Real Property Act to ensure that different tenants are treated consistently and the Department has appropriate operational flexibility and efficiency following the introduction of fixed term leases.
To explain: The introduction of fixed term leases for up to ten years involves a major operational change for social housing landlords. Most tenancy agreements in the social housing sector are of a continuous nature, that is, they technically operate from week to week or fortnight to fortnight, despite the fact that tenants have "lifetime tenure". This allows for tenancy agreements to be revised and updated as circumstances and needs change. The introduction of fixed term leases could have the effect of preventing such revision of tenancy agreements. This in turn could have the effect of leaving different tenants with different rights and obligations under their tenancy agreements depending upon when they were entered into. Ultimately this could severely limit the operational flexibility of social housing landlords, including the Department of Housing. The social housing system administers over 138,000 properties and needs operational flexibility to ensure valuable administrative resources are directed to the most important tasks.
Let me describe the areas where consistency and operational flexibility are required, and how this Bill responds to those requirements.
As many honourable members would be aware, a number of our public housing estates require sustained attention or upgrading. In some cases, substantial re-building is required to allow these upgrades to occur and to do so, the dwellings need to be vacated. Without amendment, the significant improvement of an entire estate could be jeopardised by a handful of tenants who refuse to vacate their premises, even after reasonable alternatives have been offered, and insist on their rights under a long, fixed-term tenancy agreement. The proposed sections 63F and 63G provide a process that allows a landlord under a social housing tenancy agreement to give notice of termination of the agreement after offering the tenant a new tenancy agreement in respect of alternative premises. This would allow the Department to relocate a tenant to alternative accommodation if the premises are no longer suitable or are required for redevelopment or for some other reason. Of course, the Department would continue its current practice of seeking to relocate by negotiation, but this power is essential to ensure that important renewals are not delayed unnecessarily, something of benefit to all tenants of public housing.
These sections also address the issue of under-occupancy—a problem that can prevent allocation of suitably sized homes to struggling families. At times, the Department needs to be able to re-house tenants who, because of changing circumstances, such as children leaving home, no longer require the larger family home they are leasing. This amendment allows the Department to insist the smaller household move to a smaller home—even though it may have a long term tenancy agreement for that property—to ensure that a family who does require the larger property is able to access it. This will also be a measure of last resort, used in cases where the tenant has refused reasonable offers of alternative accommodation from the Department to address the imbalance. It should also be noted that any terminations under this ground would also be subject to procedural fairness requirements and Ministerial guidelines. Again, under these guidelines a second tier appeal would be to the Housing Appeals Committee, further ensuring a useful and credible oversight function.
This section will also provide a clear legislative basis for relocations as a measure for managing serious neighbour disputes, such as were experienced on the Gordon Estate in west Dubbo.
Another potential impact of longer, fixed-term leases would be the requirement for leases of more than 3 years duration to be executed in the approved form under the Real Property Act 1900. Schedule 2 of this Act also amends section 53 of the Real Property Act 1900 in order to exempt social housing tenancy agreements from this potentially costly requirement. Schedule 2 also exempts the Department of Housing from the requirement of the Real Property Act 1900 to register residential tenancy agreements that have a term of longer than three years. This helps avoid costs for the Department in relation to an exercise that is required to protect the rights of private sector tenants, but would be costly for NSW social housing landlords.
Another area of potential impact is that under the Residential Tenancies Act, rent cannot be increased during a fixed term tenancy unless there is a clause specifically stating the amount of rent increase or a specific formula setting out the terms of rent increases and the date they will apply. It is not possible for the social housing landlord to set such a formula with a property portfolio of over 138,000 dwellings, as such increases and formula are determined according to market conditions. It is necessary to keep market rents of social housing properties up-to-date, so that market rent paying tenants pay their fair share and contribute to the financial viability of this important government service. Clause 25 of Schedule 1 amends section 132 of the Principal Act to exempt social housing landlords from the requirements of section 45 (4) so as to allow revision of rents under fixed term social tenancy agreements. This will simplify the process of uniformly addressing changes in rents across public housing.
The proposed section 9A would enable regulations to be made to introduce particular terms or conditions to apply to all social housing leases. This would allow any changes to policy to be introduced for all tenants at the same time. This means that consistency can be maintained between social housing tenants regardless of when they signed their tenancy agreements and the length of their agreements. An important example of how a uniform change would be required is if, based on new circumstances or events, a refinement of what constitutes anti-social behaviour by tenants was required. To ensure that all public housing tenants were required to adhere to the same level of behaviour, to enjoy the same rights and to meet the same obligations, we may need to amend all agreements. This is based on the clear policy need to maintain a uniform system of rights and obligations for all tenants. A further simple example of a change that may be required here is in relation to the Department's companion animals policy. New evidence or concerns may lead to new policies in relation to the keeping of dogs of certain breeds. The Department would be in an invidious position if it could not implement changes to this policy that applied to all tenants through the tenancy agreement. The proposed section 9A would allow this to occur.
All changes brought about through this power would be subject to the government's well-established processes for approving regulatory change. That is, there would be a requirement for a Regulatory Impact Statement. Furthermore, this regulatory power could not be used to insert a term that was contrary to the Residential Tenancy Act, an important caveat I draw attention to today.
The final area in which further flexibility is required is in relation to prior tenancy debts. There are likely to be cases where a person at the end of their fixed-term tenancy is in arrears but is making appropriate progress in paying these off. If this tenant is still eligible for public housing they will be granted a new fixed term lease. The debt under the old tenancy agreement would then become a mere civil debt, which would be extremely difficult to recoup. As the financial viability of an important resource such as public housing relies on fair contributions by both Government and those utilising the system, it is important for Government to be able to fairly recover costs from consumers. For this reason, section 19B would provide for financial obligations to continue from one tenancy to another provided that the tenant remains the same. This means that debts from one fixed term tenancy could be carried over to a new fixed term tenancy. This is important to ensure that tenants who are in arrears are obliged to pay back those arrears, whilst minimising the threat of jeopardising their opportunity to receive a new fixed term tenancy.
The third key outcome of this bill is to allow the Department to charge tenants for water usage.
This already occurs in the private market and in many community housing properties—where premises are separately metered. The need to charge existing and new public housing tenants for water usage has been recognised by a number of other social housing organisations across Australia. Tenants pay for other utilities such as electricity and gas. Charging for water usage will promote responsible water usage and complements existing strategies to install water efficient devices in public housing.
This is an additionally important reform in light of the effects of drought conditions across large parts of the State. Current tenancy agreements for public housing tenants do not include terms that incorporate charging for water usage. This bill will incorporate such a term into all existing leases. This bill also allows tenants to be charged where their premises are not separately metered. This has been put in place to ensure that such tenants are not advantaged relative to tenants with separate water meters, and to ensure that this issue does not discourage prospective tenants from accepting offers of metered properties. The determination, levying and collection of water charges will be in accordance with Ministerial guidelines.
I am proposing today that water charges will be levied on the same cycle as rents, rather than imposing a larger, quarterly bill on tenants. At the outset, all tenants will be charged a water usage contribution charge of 4.1 per cent of their net rent or a little over 1 per cent of their household income. After a few months of operation, tenants with separate meters will have their accounts reconciled with actual usage and their charge will be adjusted. If their actual usage has been less, they will receive a credit. If it has been more, they will be advised and their charges will be adjusted upwards, but there will be no outstanding charge. For properties not separately metered, their charges will remain based on a percentage of rent. Given the need to levy a charge on tenants without separate meters in order to maintain equity with metered tenants, this is a fair basis for assessing a water charge. Obviously, this approach aligns closely with the capacity of tenants to pay. A single pensioner will pay approximately $2.40 per week, a pensioner couple will pay $3.90.
This approach is also well aligned with actual usage. The vast majority of social housing households are dependant on Centrelink benefits, such benefits are based on household composition, and water usage is also driven by household composition. Over time, if the usage of water by tenants without meters declines, then the overall percentage will also be adjusted. The percentage will be set so as to collect less than total unmetered usage so as to allow for common area usage. Metered tenants with medical or other conditions requiring excessive water usage will be able to apply to be treated as an unmetered tenant and pay only a flat percentage of their rent.
It is important to remember that the regime established under these amendments for water usage charges is based firmly on equity of charging across both metered and unmetered tenants. It is a fair and stable approach to ensuring public housing tenants are brought within our existing strategies for responsible water usage. I am proud to say that the fourth key outcome of this bill is an enhancement to tenant rights in relation to the determination of market rents. Under the current legislation and particularly Regulation 22 of the 1995 Regulations a social housing tenant whilst in receipt of a rent rebate cannot dispute under section 47 that an increase in market rent under section 45 is excessive. Section 47 A of the proposed legislation enables a social housing tenant whose rent rebate has been cancelled to apply to the Consumer, Trader and Tenancy Tribunal for an order that the current market rent applicable to their premises is excessive. This is a strong consumer protection principle. It means that a tenant with the opportunity and the initiative to improve their circumstances will not be discouraged by having to pay an excessive rent that was inadvertently imposed during the period in which the tenant was subsidised. This amendment responds directly to concerns raised with me and with my predecessor by tenant representatives.
In addition, under Section 132 of the Residential Tenancies Act, the Department is not required to provide 60 days notice of a rent increase. As a further consumer protection for tenants, this bill removes this exemption applying to housing let by the New South Wales Land and Housing Corporation and the Aboriginal Housing Corporation and now requires the giving of advance notice of rent increases.
The fifth key outcome of this bill is to extend the reshaping reforms to the Aboriginal Housing Office and, potentially, to Community Housing. At the announcement of the Reshaping reforms, their extension to Aboriginal Housing was foreshadowed, subject to consultation with the AHO Board. I am pleased to inform the House that the Board has endorsed the reforms and as a result they will apply consistently to tenants of the Department and of the AHO. The reforms have been drafted to allow them to include all social housing tenancy agreements, subject to the ability to exclude certain landlords by regulation. At the outset, Community Housing providers will be excluded, but I will be consulting further with the Community Housing sector regarding the extension of these reforms to that sector.
The sixth and final outcome of this bill is that the change in focus for social housing is recognised by proposed amendments to the objects of the Housing Act and the Aboriginal Housing Act. Schedule 2 of this bill amends the Aboriginal Housing Act 1998 and the Housing Act 2001 to insert objects into those Acts aimed at ensuring the public housing system is focused on housing people who are most in need and that the available supply of housing is shared equitably among those people.
In closing, this bill introduces important changes to the structure and operation of residential tenancy management in NSW in relation to social housing tenancies. Without these amendments the Government will not be able to deliver the sound economic and program reforms required to ensure our social housing system provides a fair and just opportunity for those most in need.
I commend the bill to the House
The Hon. MELINDA PAVEY [11.44 a.m.]: I speak on behalf of the Opposition on the Residential Tenancies Amendment (Social Housing) Bill. At the outset I indicate that the Opposition will not be opposing the bill, because 70,000 people in New South Wales are seeking Department of Housing accommodation. In the 10 years that the Carr-Iemma governments have had control of the State, including public housing stock, there has been an escalation in the waiting list and in property depreciation and maintenance issues associated with Department of Housing properties. For that reason reform of public housing is long overdue.
There is a crisis in many parts of New South Wales, and I particularly highlight the North Coast and the South Coast, where property values have escalated and there are issues of affordability for many citizens of those regions being able to access affordable public housing accommodation in crisis situations. The same situation applies in Sydney. It is impossible to live in Sydney unless one earns an extraordinary amount of money. One issue is that people on the margins of society in Sydney are living in accommodation that is inappropriate for families, including young families—caravan parks, cabins or even cars. There is a crisis in Sydney and in coastal areas in terms of access to public housing. The reforms in this bill are long overdue.
It does not bode well for the Government that it has taken so long to bring necessary reforms to the Parliament. I suppose it is symptomatic of the neglect of this State on so many fronts by the Carr-Iemma governments. One would think that the Labor Party might get this area right. One would think that the Labor Government is concerned about people on the margins. It has taken the Government 10 years to introduce legislation that will provide perhaps a little fairness and equity to some of the 70,000 people waiting to get into public housing in New South Wales.
Some 15,000 people between Newcastle and Tweed Heads have been waiting for up to 12 to 15 years to get public housing stock. This reform is necessary because public housing stock should be available to those who need it most, not those who have first right because they are already in public housing. The legislation provides for people who have improved their station in life, who have some stability and who have a decent income, to move on to the next stage in their life and to leave public housing stock for those who need it most.
In general terms, the object of the bill is to amend the Residential Tenancies Act 1987 in connection with social housing tenancy agreements. It will enable the terms of residential tenancy agreements that are prescribed by the regulations made under the principal Act to extend to social housing tenancies in existence before the terms are prescribed; enable a landlord under a social housing tenancy agreement, the fixed term of which has ended, to declare that the agreement is subject to a further fixed term from a date specified in a notice given to the tenant; and enable a landlord under a social housing tenancy agreement to require the tenant to pay charges for water usage. Water use charges are an important issue. We have sought acknowledgement from the Government that aged pensioners and those on disability pensions will not be unfairly confronted with water charges.
The Opposition believes that everyone should pay a decent price for water so that people understand and respect that water is a valuable commodity in this country. A user pays system for the use and metering of water is a good way to get the message through to everyone in New South Wales that there is a cost to water and that that cost should be borne fairly by all parts of the community.
I remind honourable members that the State Labor Government has an appalling record on water and recycling in Sydney. The equivalent of 1,000 Olympic-size swimming pools is being pumped into the ocean off Sydney every day following the most basic treatment, which just removes the solids. There is no concern about recycling those 1,000 swimming pools, but there needs to be. If the Government had a proper policy for the recycling of that valuable resource, as happens in most civilised countries in the world, Sydney would not be facing this crisis. I acknowledge that creating a water usage charge for public housing tenants will give them the opportunity to appreciate that valuable commodity.
The bill also makes provision for payment of debts by social housing tenants. There is an ongoing responsibility for debts accrued. It will also enable a social housing tenant whose rent rebate has been cancelled to apply to the Consumer, Trader and Tenancy Tribunal for an order declaring that the tenant's rent is excessive. It will also enable a social housing tenancy agreement to be terminated if the landlord determines that the tenant is no longer eligible to reside in such premises. It will also enable a social housing tenancy agreement to be terminated after the landlord offers the tenant a new tenancy agreement in respect of alternative social housing premises.
The bill will also remove an exemption, applying to housing let by the New South Wales Land and Housing Corporation or the Aboriginal Housing Office, from a requirement for advance notice to be given of rent increases. It will enable rent payable under a fixed-term social housing tenancy agreement to be increased during the currency of the fixed term. It will also amend the Aboriginal Housing Act and the Housing Act to insert objects into those Acts to ensure that the public housing system is focused on housing people who are most in need and that the available supply of housing is shared equitably amongst those people, and also to exempt social housing tenancy agreements from a requirement under the Real Property Act for leases of more than three years duration to be executed in the approved form under the Act.
The Opposition believes the legislation provides for the eligibility for public housing to be based on the concept of need, which will ensure that the most needy receive public housing. A lot of people are in need and on the margin of our society. They need to get into public housing to improve their situation in life and to create a proper family environment. The legislation will also encourage tenants paying market rent to seek accommodation from the private sector, thus freeing up housing stocks for the most needy. It replaces the lifetime tenure of public housing by introducing leases ranging from two to 10 years. While that will be confronting for many people who regard their Department of Housing home as their home—and I empathise with people who believe it is their home and they are entitled to it for life—we need to balance that view with the greater need of the community at large. In New South Wales 70,000 people are on very long waiting lists.
The introduction of water charges for public housing tenants is an effort to reduce water usage and promote responsible water usage. Enshrining acceptable behaviour agreements is a big issue for people living in Department of Housing precincts. Having good neighbours and being good citizens is important to community self-pride and to family self-pride. If someone is doing the wrong thing continuously, the department needs to be able to act in an appropriate manner.
The shadow Minister in the other place detailed a list of concerns that were raised with him by the North and North West Community Legal Service. The shadow Minister put 30 questions from that legal service into the debate in the other place last night. He challenged the Minister for Housing in the other place to respond to those 30 questions because, unfortunately, the North and North West Community Legal Service has not had an official response from the Minister, or from the former Minister for that matter, to questions and concerns it raised with the former Minister's office in June. Not surprisingly, the former Minister was not good with his correspondence or in communicating with his constituents. As a numbers man for the Labor Party, he is not concerned about real people and real people's concerns and did not respond to the North and North West Community Legal Service. The incoming Minister has not done that either. In the other place yesterday she was given the opportunity to deal with those 30 questions but unfortunately that opportunity was not taken up completely by the Minister.
She pointed out that in relation to water charges, unmetered charges track closely to the composition of the household, because charges are tied to income and around 90 per cent of public tenants rely on Centrelink. The figures mentioned during debate, of $2.40 and $3.90, were for a single pensioner and a couple respectively. In relation to water conservation, the department initiated a retrofit program that is currently available to tenants. The current program with Sydney Water will see a planned take-up of 20,000 dwellings. Many concerns raised by interest groups have not been covered by the Government but they are now on the record. The Tenants Union and Shelter New South Wales disagree with the introduction of water charges on unmetered properties and suggest an amendment that water usage guidelines be reviewed by the Energy and Water Ombudsman of New South Wales.
Overall, as I pointed out at the beginning of my speech, the Opposition is concerned about the 70,000 people who are on the public housing waiting list. On the North Coast alone 15,000 people have been waiting for up to 15 years to get access. It is a shame it has taken 10 years of Labor government in New South Wales to institute much-needed reform. The Opposition will not be opposing that reform. We just highlight the fact that it has taken so long and so many families with real needs have been waiting for access. On that basis the Opposition will not be opposing the legislation.
Reverend the Hon. Dr GORDON MOYES [11.57 a.m.]: I recognise the time and therefore will speak very briefly and take up the speech on another occasion. On behalf of the Christian Democratic Party I speak on the Residential Tenancies Amendment (Social Housing) Bill. This bill makes amendments to the Residential Tenancies Act and some other pieces of legislation that relate to social housing. I place on the record my appreciation of 30 years of working with the Department of Housing and needy people in the community of Sydney.
There is no question that the department has been extraordinarily helpful to charities and those who are working with people who are homeless in the community or at risk of being homeless. For example, just recently I opened a public housing estate as Greenacre. This was a whole group of single bedsits that the Department of Housing had had extraordinary difficulty in making sure were occupied by good tenants over a period of time. Much of the housing in these single bedsits had been trashed by people the department had rented them to and a number of people were engaged in gross antisocial behaviour such as drug trafficking and the rest.
We put a proposal to the Department of Housing that Wesley Mission take the head lease of the properties and we would place people into them and a staff member would be responsible for the oversight and behaviour of the tenants and the upkeep of the buildings. I was able to get a Work for the Dole team to re-create the gardens, as the surroundings were totally bare. That place won a garden competition within six months of the gardening team commencing work. The people who came into the Greenacre series of bedsits were a remarkable group of people. They were adults who were living along the Parramatta River under bridges, homeless. Every night one of my staff—I might say that she is a woman and the work is very risky and she works alone—goes along the Parramatta River and to all the public parks in the Parramatta area, talks to homeless people and tells them that if they want to they can move into better places.
The department has been gracious in allowing us to take head leases over the properties and we have been able to place many homeless persons into community houses. Recently I visited some former homeless women who had been living on the streets and who are now housed in these places. It is an absolute joy. I also thank other charities with which we have worked in order to get things such as washing machines, furniture, clothing and floor coverings. In a number of ways I have appreciated the work of the Department of Housing.
Pursuant to sessional orders business interrupted.