New changes to social housing rules could evict repeated offenders of bad behaviour

ABC NEWS (Australia)

Back home social housing tenants could face eviction for repeated bad behaviour under new changes by the Queensland government. The housing minister says it will restore fairness to the public housing system. But advocates have lashed out at the LNP for a lack of consultation.

Transcript

00:00Three strikes and you'll be out under a social housing crackdown.

00:07We're hearing far too many examples of bad behaviour and of far too few consequences for that behaviour.

00:14Public housing tenants who receive three warnings for serious behaviour in a year will be evicted for 12 months.

00:22It includes damaging property or aggressive language.

00:26Tenants kicked out for committing illegal offences will be banned from reapplying for two years.

00:32We've had a 140% increase in damage to our properties since the behaviour policy was changed by the former Labor government.

00:42The LNP brought in a three strike rule under Campbell Newman in 2013.

00:47The people here have obviously had no respect whatsoever for the property and that is simply not acceptable.

00:53But the housing minister insists the policies aren't the same.

00:57No, absolutely not. We have a progressive scale of consequences at the disposal of our housing officers.

01:05Discretion will be given to tenants with complex needs such as mental illness, disability and domestic violence.

01:12The opposition says the Queensland Government should focus on building new homes instead to reduce the social housing waitlist.

01:19The state government says housing officers and tenants were consulted but advocates have hit out at the approach.

01:26I'm very disappointed that we're at this point.

01:29I think there's a lot of things we need to do to actually prevent these kind of harsh responses.

01:36Good solutions to tricky problems in Queensland are resolved through good consultation with all of the people and stakeholders involved.

01:45The changes will come into effect next month.

01:50Oh, yeah.

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