Government treating public housing tenants as second-class citizens: Greens  ombudsman report   :(
2026-03-04
greens.org.au
Quotes attributed to Shane Rattenbury, Leader of the ACT Greens:

“Today’s report from the ACT Ombudsman pulls back the curtain on how public housing tenants are being treated, and it’s not good enough.

“For too long, serious maintenance failures have been allowed to persist while the government looks the other way instead of stepping up to meet basic responsibilities.

“It is hard to avoid the conclusion that public housing tenants are being treated as second-class citizens by this government. Urgent repairs are dragging on for months. Basic maintenance is falling through the cracks. And nothing is being done about it.

“If a private landlord behaved this way, they would quite rightly find themselves before ACAT. The difference is that many public housing tenants, quite fairly, don’t have the time, resources or confidence to navigate this complex complaints processes.

“The government knows this, and the result is a system where unacceptable standards are tolerated because the people affected are least able to fight back.

“The report outlines a shocking example of a tenant left without a proper roof for more than a year. That is not a minor oversight, it is a profound failure. It speaks to years of underinvestment and a culture that has not treated public housing with seriousness.

“The Greens will be scrutinising the government’s response closely. What we need now isn’t spin, it’s a shift in attitude and investment in new and existing public homes.

“Public housing is not a charity or an afterthought. It is an essential public service, and it should be delivered to the highest standard, as any Canberran has a right to expect.

whiteknight wrote on Mar 4^th, 2026 at 5:03pm:

“Public housing is not a charity or an afterthought.

Oh, but it is.

And I think the tenants are not exactly the people you would rent your own home to.

If this story hadn't specifically mentioned the ACT then it could have been about any State or Territory in Australia seeing as they all seem to be 'reading from the same script' when it comes to things like Public Housing these days.

Which reminds me - I wonder how the WA Housing Class Action by Slater and Gordon is going?

Haven't heard anything about this for a while and it's been going for some time now. I assume the WA Government is being as elusive as possible when it comes to providing answers and trying to drag the whole thing out for as long as they can.

Disgraceful stuff, as always.

Housing ACT failing tenants by leaving properties in disrepair, ombudsman says   



March 4 2026
ABC News


In short:
The ACT Ombudsman says the ACT government is failing as a landlord.

Public housing tenants have spoken about properties that have had mould, holes, and broken appliances for years.

What's next?
The government has agreed to the ombudsman's recommendations to improve processes.


Canberra's biggest landlord is under fire for failing to repair and maintain its properties in a timely way — or at all.

ACT Ombudsman Iain Anderson said "Housing ACT has not satisfied its legal obligations" after his office investigated multiple recent complaints by tenants.

"We found that it often took a long time to fully complete required repairs, even though there were safety hazards such as mould and leaking roofs in their homes," Mr Anderson said in a report.

"We identified poor communication between Housing ACT, tenants and contractors … in some cases, tenants were not told what was being done to fix problems in their home for months."

The report made eight recommendations in regard to fixing processes to get things done more quickly and with improved transparency, which the government has agreed to.

'Better off being homeless'
Public housing tenant Andy Coogan said the government's failings have exhausted him.   :(

"I feel belittled, humiliated … worthless," the disability pensioner said.

Mr Coogan lives with his assistance dog, Max, and has been at his property for seven years.

"The first 12 months of my tenancy, I had no working bathroom [and], for the first two months, no way of washing my clothes. I've had mould growing throughout the house," he said.

"It took five years for Housing ACT to install a dog door.

"It makes me feel like I'm better off being homeless and living on the streets than living on a construction site."

Mr Coogan estimated he had spent $15,000 out of his own pocket for repairs and maintenance in one year.   :(

A man with arms crossed outdoors.
Gus Bamberry says the ACT government needs to better communicate with its public housing tenants.

Fellow tenant Gus Bamberry, who lives with spina bifida, echoed what the ombudsman's report has revealed about poor communication.

"It's a job in itself trying to get a response. A lot of tenants don't even know who their housing manager is," he said.

"I had holes in my roof after a maintenance issue. They replaced my lights then didn't come for a patch and paint for three years.

"I'm a disabled man and my life would be a lot easier if I didn't have to deal with the daily stress of the lack of maintenance."

In-house capability promised
ACT Chief Minister Andrew Barr said the government had committed to modernising housing stock and becoming less reliant on contractors.

"There's been some serious issues in relation to the maintenance contract for elements of the public housing portfolio — there's no doubting that," he said.

"The problem is, you can't axe a contract with nothing to replace it, and the change process to effectively have the in-house capability … is not something that can be done overnight."

Independent MLA Thomas Emerson said more and more public housing properties were becoming uninhabitable despite the government's Growing and Renewing Public Housing Program, which has aimed to renew at least 1,000 homes and add 400 homes by the next financial year.

The government has just over 11,900 properties.

"I welcome the government's commitment to insourcing [repairs and maintenance] work, but that alone isn't going to solve the problem," Mr Emerson said.

"What we need to see is a shift in priorities, because we're not investing enough in this area and that has costs downstream."

A bearded man in a dark shirt speaks with a dark-haired woman in a city plaza.
Gus Bamberry speaks with ACT Shelter chief executive Corinne Dobson.

ACT Shelter's Corinne Dobson said the government had overseen years of public housing underinvestment, and she hoped plans to insource management of the portfolio would help.

"There's been a lot of systemic problems with the outsourcing of repairs and maintenance. But even if it's government-delivered, that's no guarantee that it's going to address the issues," she said.   :(

"[The tenants] are living in the kinds of conditions no-one should be living in."

It's every public tenant's right to trash the place and get it all fixed for free... that's what a welfare state is all about.

Auntie Christine again?

Sir Grappler Truth Teller OAM wrote on Mar 5^th, 2026 at 6:42am:

It's every public tenant's right to trash the place and get it all fixed for free... that's what a welfare state is all about. Auntie Christine again?

About 5 years ago -
I heard about a one bedroom Unit that was part of Govt. social housing
in the SE suburbs of Melbourne.
The tenant went on a drug fueled rage and smashed the place up.
He was taken to a psyche ward by the cops for a week or more.
The place was fixed up by the Govt very quickly at great expense
and 2 weeks later he was back in the place.

We pay for that with our taxes - he didn't pay.

Bobby. wrote on Mar 5^th, 2026 at 7:47am:

Sir Grappler Truth Teller OAM wrote on Mar 5th, 2026 at 6:42am: It's every public tenant's right to trash the place and get it all fixed for free... that's what a welfare state is all about. Auntie Christine again? About 5 years ago - I heard about a one bedroom Unit that was part of Govt. social housing in the SE suburbs of Melbourne. The tenant went on a drug fueled rage and smashed the place up. He was taken to a psyche ward by the cops for a week or more. The place was fixed up by the Govt very quickly at great expense and 2 weeks later he was back in the place. We pay for that with our taxes - he didn't pay.

Need for mental health professional insurance to cover unexpected outcomes that lead to direct harm?  An insurance scheme for malpractice... a lot cheaper to restore the asylums ...

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So because of a few bad apples its okay to demonise ppl living in housing because they are poor so it must be thier own fault so they dont deserve basic maintenance right?

Spot