Yvette Berry says government will reassess process for forced public housing relocations

Yvette Berry has said the government will reassess its approach to relocating tenants following a critical review of the program from the ACT Ombudsman.

More than 150 households who have previously been told they would be forced to move from their homes will be contacted by Housing ACT to inform them of the government's change of heart.

The government sent letters to more than 300 tenants early last year they would have to relocate out of their homes as part of the public housing renewal program.

An Ombudsman report, released this week, found Housing ACT failed to properly communicate to tenants they would be forced out of their homes and did not provide support for vulnerable tenants.

The report said the agency "underestimated" the effect of relocation on tenants and their communication was "impersonal" and caused "significant distress".

Ms Berry said she recognised the findings of the Ombudsman report and accepted the government needed to do better.

"I don't think anybody had intended for this to happen. That was not what we wanted to see come out of this program," she told The Canberra Times.

"We worked really hard to make sure we were communicating really well with tenants but we accept that the Ombudsman has found that was not appropriate and we need to do that.

"As I said, it was never anybody's intention to cause even more distress and we understand this decision has done that and I'm very sorry."

Three long-term housing tenants sued the ACT government over the relocations, alleging their human rights had been breached.

The government is working on a new decision making process for tenants who will need to relocate and Ms Berry said the new process would be finished by the end of the month.

The new process would focus on reviewing each of the individual tenancies.

"It will be really, even more, tenant focused than we had previously and really understanding particular tenants vulnerabilities," Ms Berry said.

The government has a target to renew 1000 public housing properties by the 2025-26 financial year and to build an extra 400 properties.

Under the program, the government is selling off older properties to fund the construction of newer properties. Tenants forced to move would be relocated to another public housing property.

But the government has come under fire for this program as the actual number of public housing properties has declined in the territory. Ms Berry has previously said there would not be a notable increase in the number of properties until 2025.

Ms Berry said it is not known at this stage about whether the new process around relocations will cause further delays to the program.

"We think if we can get back onto this pretty quickly, that we'll be able to continue to meet that time frame," she said.

"But we'll have to consider that as we move along about what the impact might be. At the moment that's not clear because we don't really know the numbers of people who are really wanting to leave at this stage."

Elderly women were disproportionately affected by the forced relocations, community organisations said.

A number of tenants expressed shock at the move, saying they were not made aware their property was planned for renewal and many had lived in their homes for decades.

Housing ACT initially sought voluntary relocations from tenants and considered this to be a formal notification that their property was being considered for disposal.

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But the Ombudsman said this letter had "the appearance of marketing material from government" and did not expressly ask tenants to volunteer or participate in the program.

Tenants did not receive another "formal" communication from Housing ACT until February 2022 when there were more than 300 letters were sent to inform tenants they would be required to relocate.

Tenants who were sent letters saying their relocation was mandatory were able to apply for an exemption but there was no clear process for tenants to seek an exemption.

Just over 200 households relocated following this letter but 154 households did not. The government said under the new decision making process some of those households will still be required to move.

People who moved under the previous process will have limited options as their previous homes would most likely have been demolished.

"For them, their issue has been resolved, I guess in as far as they have a home to get into but we encourage them to get in touch with Housing ACT if they're concerned or distressed at all, because, as I said that it was never anybody's intention to cause even more distress," Ms Berry said.

Opposition housing spokesman Mark Parton, who has spoken out against the process, has absolutely slammed the government. He said the government had ignored advice and from community organisations around the program but was forced into action following the Ombudsman report.

"When will the Canberra public wake up to the fact that this whole government is a fraud," he said.

"They're single biggest legacy will be of an arrogant regime that perpetuated a caring, progressive, sensible narrative, but then went about doing the complete opposite to what they had promised, every single day of the week.

"This entire government is a fraud, but every now and then there is a moment during which even they can't continue with the pretence, and this is one of those moments."

Greens spokesman on housing Johnathan Davis, who has called for changes to the government's renewal program, said he welcomed the Ombudsman report.

He said it showed the program was unable to meet the government's ambition to increase the number of public housing properties.

"This report outlines the distress felt by vulnerable public housing tenants, many older women, who were forced to relocate against their will," Mr Davis said.

"This further demonstrates the inability of this program in its current form to meet its ambition to both grow and renew public housing in a progressive, sustainable way.

"We need to grow public housing, we need to renew public housing and we need to find a way to do that that respects the dignity of every single public housing tenant."

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