NSW Greens Housing spokesperson Jenny Leong MP has called for an urgent intervention to protect public housing tenants in response to the damning NSW Auditor General’s report released today which found FACS - under the incompetent leadership of Minister Pru Goward - has not adequately supported or resourced its staff to manage so-called antisocial behaviour in public housing, or coordinate the case management of tenants with complex needs and mental health concerns.
The NSW Greens Spokesperson for Housing Jenny Leong MP says:
“We’ve been saying it for years - but now the independent Auditor General has made it crystal clear, the Minister for Family and Community Services Pru Goward is failing our community’s most vulnerable people by refusing to properly fund, train and resource front line staff.
“So called antisocial behaviour is a symptom of the Liberal’s failure to deliver adequate support services for tenants struggling with mental health issues and drug and alcohol addiction.
“Minister Goward seems fixated on implementing punitive policies that punish those in need of support rather than implementing a coordinated approach to case manage tenants with complex needs. This approach is endangering the tenants who need services, their neighbours and the front line staff dealing with the ramifications.
“The Greens call for urgent intervention from the Premier in order to protect public housing tenants whose safety is at risk due to the incompetence of Minister Goward and the systemic failures she is refusing to address.
“The NSW Government this year recorded a $3.9 billion surplus. With that in mind, The Greens are calling for a massive increase in investment in public housing to address these shortfalls, increase housing stock to eliminate the ten-year waiting list and to address the maintenance backlog which currently sits in the hundreds of millions of dollars.
BACKGROUND
- The NSW Auditor General’s report is available here.
