New SA Housing Authority chief Michael Buchan to set clear new rules for badly behaving public housing tenants

New rules for public housing tenants will make clear what behaviour will lead to them getting kicked out — and what “inconsequential” problems should not be reported to the housing authority.

A new policy for public housing tenants will make clear what behaviour will lead to eviction and what “inconsequential” problems should not be reported.

There will also be a dedicated complaints line for help with disruptive neighbours.

The head of the new SA Housing Authority, Michael Buchan, has flagged the measures among his priorities.

Mr Buchan also wants to focus more on the safety of staff who visit public and community housing and may encounter volatile situations.

He said a new anti-social behaviour policy for tenants would be released in coming months and would “substantially change the consequences” for poor behaviour.

New SA Housing Authority chief executive Michael Buchan. AAP / Mike Burton

“It hopefully will steer us away from managing the inconsequential stuff … like ‘someone’s put a bin across my driveway’. That is a neighbourhood thing … you can have a conversation with council around that,” Mr Buchan said.

“But there is a line where it actually moves into anti-social behaviour which is threatening, violent behaviour, continuing ongoing disruption.

“We are now moving to a much clearer, much more transparent process that will effectively move people into a position where they’re actually putting their tenancy at risk quite swiftly (if they break the rules).”

The SA Housing Authority was established by the Liberal Government following the March state election to oversee reform of the public and community housing sector.

Mr Buchan had been acting chief since last July and was confirmed in the role for a three-year term from the start of January. He has put in place a new protocol to ensure Housing SA staff are safe when they visit tenants.

“Before they walk into that property … they should be looking on the (IT) system, they should be thinking about how do I get out of (the property), is there one person there or are we expecting multiple people … so they’re making an informed decision,” he said.

Mr Buchan stressed it was “a minority” of tenants who broke rules but “if they’re going to do that they can’t stay in public housing”.

Making a complaint would soon be easier with the dedicated hotline.

“People feel frustrated that they can’t complain or … it falls on deaf ears,” he said.

Mr Buchan said he would monitor the new hotline to understand trends in complaints and “how long has it taken to address something”.