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Social housing report available now
Nearly two years ago the Victorian Ombudsman Deborah Glass tabled an extensive report into Victoria’s social housing complaint system. It described a complicated, confusing and under-resourced system, to a point where some renters felt their health and safety were at risk.
On 15 March 2024, the Social housing complaint handling – progress report was tabled, a follow-up on the 17 recommendations in the 2022 report. It notes advances in some areas, but also identifies a lack of clear action from the Victorian Government on much-needed major reforms.
“The systemic issues are not going away. Change is now even more critical, as Victorians grapple with dual housing and cost-of-living crises, increasing homelessness and an evolving social housing landscape, including the looming redevelopment of public housing towers,” Ms Glass said.
Acknowledging the Victorian Government’s substantial capital investment in social housing, Ms Glass said putting even a tiny percentage of this spend into better complaint handling would reap huge rewards far sooner – for renters, social housing providers and the Government alike.
Ms Glass noted the responsible Department and the Housing Registrar had acted to address most of the recommendations made to them, but major recommendations for Government were not yet fulfilled.
“Letters to a succession of responsible Ministers went unanswered, until a draft of this report elicited the response that the recommendations remain ‘under active consideration’,” Ms Glass said.
Discontent with social housing continues to grow, with complaints to the Ombudsman rising 83 per cent over the past two years. The case studies in the report once again highlight the distress poor complaint handling processes can cause.
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Source: Victorian Ombudsman, Australia
