Housing meets its Waterloo

Bureaucratic complexities and a State Government that “just doesn’t care” is being blamed for maintenance and cleaning problems at social housing complexes in the Redfern/Waterloo precinct.

An investigation into social housing in the area has found evidence of widespread neglect by the buildings’ landlord, the NSW Government.

A visit to Moorehead Street, Waterloo – home to some of Sydney’s largest social housing complexes – found buildings in disrepair, syringes in stairwells, hallways strewn with rubbish, graffiti-plastered common areas, eaves caked with bird droppings, and widespread issues with peeling paint and frayed carpet.

City of Sydney Greens Councillor and Lord Mayoral candidate Irene Doutney, who is a local social housing tenant, said used syringes had become a scourge.

“We’ve had syringe dumps three weeks in a row, and I know from speaking to residents of other buildings that people are getting dumps of up to 30 syringes at a time in their gardens,” she said.

“There have been problems getting these removed – it’s unsafe for residents to handle them, and the authorised needle clean-up people can’t just come in and collect them because they need permission from Housing NSW to come onto our land.”

Ms Doutney said building maintenance issues were ongoing, with timeliness of repairs a major concern.

“If it’s a really simple maintenance issue, you might get it fixed in a couple of days but if it relates to what they call assets – painting, carpets, guttering and so on – it can take a couple of years.

“They wait until there’s a great big pile of problems, then they fix them all at once. There’s a huge backlog,” she said.

Equality activist Gary Burns, also a Housing NSW tenant, said problems persisted because there was little electoral incentive to address them.

“We have a State Government that just doesn’t care,” he said.

“There are no votes in this issue for Barry O’Farrell because public housing tenants don’t vote Liberal.”

But Labor was no better, he said.

“Labor treats the local residents like starving neighbourhood cats. All they do is put out a saucer of milk from time-to-time because they know it’s a safe Labor seat.”

Tellingly, Ron Hoenig – who won the local Heffron by-election for Labor on the weekend – did not return calls.

Sydney Lord Mayor Clover Moore MP said the fact there was no longer a NSW Housing Minister exacerbated repair issues.

“Successive NSW Governments have not adequately funded proper maintenance and repairs of social housing, and there is a massive backlog of work needed,” she said.

“The split of tenancy management from asset management, with two separate ministers, appears to have made the repairs process more complex.”

In May last year, NSW Premier Barry O’Farrell abolished the role of Housing Minister, and responsibility was split between two ministers: Minister for Finance and Services Greg Pearce, and Minister for Families and Community Services Pru Goward.

Both Ministers declined to speak for this story.

A Housing NSW spokesperson said common areas in Redfern/Waterloo walk-up flats were cleaned fortnightly, while in high-rise buildings contract cleaners were present “most days.”

As for maintenance: “Work to keep homes in good condition, such as painting, and kitchen and bathroom upgrades, is carried out under a planned maintenance program.”

The spokesperson said issues that “cannot wait until the next scheduled plan of works” are triaged to one of five categories, ranging from “within four hours” to “within 20 days.”