BY LUCAS BAIRD
Waterloo public housing residents are preparing to take class action against the state government in what could be a landmark case as the community digs their heels in.
Waterloo Public Housing Action Group (WPHAG) has told City Hub that several residents have been subject to “unlivable” conditions in the dwellings due to poor maintenance for several years.
WPHAG claim that they felt they were driven to action due to the “cloudy” information afforded to them by the state government regarding the Waterloo redevelopment project which will see them displaced from their current dwellings.
“We are running with a petition now and also the threat of a class action of failing the duty of care, a financial claim on some of these people through their [the state government’s] maintenance [of the dwellings],” said WPHAG Chairman, Richard Weekes.
“They haven’t been able to use a percentage of their directed premises and under the act, if you rent a four bedroom house and one of the bedrooms is unlivable… you have the right to claim 25 per cent of your rent back.”
Mr Weekes said that he has the case prepared to present to the Civil Administrative Tribunal and said the case could be a Pandora’s Box.
The possibility of a class action comes at a time when many in the communityis unsure about thei future of social housing in the suburb.
REDWatch community group is also scrutinising the state government about the redevelopments as they seek to get answers from UrbanGrowth NSW.
REDWatch collected questions from a community meeting in May and put them to the government agency in an attempt to ease the minds of the community.
However, REDWatch convenor, Geoff Turnbull, told City Hub that none of those questions had been answered and claimed that residents felt “burned” by the vague information that had been given by the government.
“The interactions with Land and Housing Corp[oration], Housing NSW and UrbanGrowth really aren’t throwing any light onto what the government is proposing for Waterloo.”
“Six months after the event [Waterloo Metro Announcement]… They [residents] don’t know when they are moving, what they are doing, and there is no clarity around how the government is going to do this with a whole pile of issues.”
A spokesperson for UrbanGrowth NSW said that they had already answered a number of the communities questions when they attended a REDWatch meeting in May and said there will consultation with the community throughout the master planning process.
The spokesperson also said that they would be happy to attend another community meeting to further answer questions if asked by REDWatch.
