A young mother and her three children have been shifted out of a Housing ACT property deemed "unsafe" nearly seven months after moving in to find mould, water damage, stained carpets and used syringes in the front and rear yards.
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Taylor Khan, 25, was moved to a hotel in Woden late on Friday and, on Saturday, contractors began assessing the required repairs at her property.
Ms Khan, who moved into the house in August last year, said she had told Housing ACT she would withhold rent until the issues were fixed.
Ms Khan provided Housing ACT with an extensive list of property issues soon after she moved in and had grown increasingly frustrated with the delays.
An inspection report completed in May 2019 by Programmed, which is contracted to provide total facilities management for Housing ACT, had signed off on the property after the previous tenant left.
The report rated all assessment items, except the stained carpet, as "good".
But an inspection completed by Housing ACT on October 3, 2019 failed the majority of assessment items, except fixtures in most rooms.
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Despite the second inspection failing the property's condition, Ms Khan said there had been significant delays in repairs.
A contractor took six weeks to replace a bathroom exhaust fan, which sparked when turned on, Ms Khan said.
Before finding out she would be relocated to a hotel, Ms Khan said she took pride in her home but it was not safe for her and her three young children.
She said people in Canberra needed to realise there were people living in the city in conditions of squalor.
"Help people like us that are fighting with the government to fix our houses. You've got someone living in a house full of mould from water damage," Ms Khan said.
She said two of her children, aged 4 and 6, had special needs and required access to a backyard, but Housing ACT had refused to take into consideration specialists' reports when assigning her property.
A spokesman for the Community Services Directorate said the needs of the household are assessed to find tenants a suitable property and support a "sustainable tenancy".
Ms Khan said she was told by a Housing ACT representative late on Friday afternoon she needed to vacate her home as it had been deemed "unsafe". She said the rapid move had been "incredibly stressful" and her partner was supporting her while she stayed in a hotel with her children.
Accommodation for Ms Khan's pets was organised by Housing ACT on Saturday afternoon, with a transfer to a different hotel in Gungahlin organised for Sunday night.
The Sunday Canberra Times on Wednesday asked the Community Services Directorate to explain how the two property inspections varied so widely and why repair works had not taken place.
The directorate could not comment on individual cases, a spokesman said on Saturday.
The spokesman said neither Housing ACT nor Programmed kept statistics on the number of times syringes had been found at properties after new tenants moved in.
- Do you know more? jasper.lindell@canberratimes.com.au
Jasper Lindell
Jasper Lindell joined The Canberra Times in 2018. He is a Legislative Assembly reporter, covering ACT politics and government. He also writes about development, transport, heritage, local history, literature and the arts, as well as contributing to the Times' Panorama magazine. He was previously a Sunday Canberra Times reporter.
Jasper Lindell joined The Canberra Times in 2018. He is a Legislative Assembly reporter, covering ACT politics and government. He also writes about development, transport, heritage, local history, literature and the arts, as well as contributing to the Times' Panorama magazine. He was previously a Sunday Canberra Times reporter.
