Traditional owners protest charity’s ‘Third World’ housing

A registered charity providing low-cost rental homes and crisis accommodation in Charters Towers has been accused of being secretive and failing to maintain its “Third World” properties.

• St Vincent’s seeks guidance from staff of Townsville aged care home
• SeaLink disappointed at shelving marine tourism precinct project

A REGISTERED charity providing low-cost rental homes and crisis accommodation services to Aboriginal people has been accused of being secretive and failing to maintain its properties.

But the CEO of Jupiter Mosman Housing Company Ltd in Charters Towers, Glen Sowman, said they were trying their best to provide a service.

Traditional owners and tenants recently staged a protest outside the organisation’s offices.

Tenants complained about faulty stoves and hot water systems which have not been fixed for years.

The granddaughter of one of the organisation’s founders, Elizabeth Santo of the Gudjala people, claimed the company received a lot of government funding and yet was providing housing some of which was “Third World” standard.

“The community leaders want to know why aren’t the houses in better condition and what’s happening in the structure of the company. No one has been able to get information,” Ms Santo said.

Another Gudjala member, Patricia Dallachy, said the organisation was providing housing to people from the Northern Territory and the Gulf and selling properties.

Property records show the company sold a block of land in Gill St last year for $100,000, while the Australian charities commission’s website says its reporting is “up to date”.

Traditional owners protest outside the offices of the Jupiter Mosman Housing Company.

Former Charters Towers mayor Liz Schmidt raised the community’s grievances in 2019 with the state government which provides the company with about $580,000 in annual funding.

But she was told the Department of Housing were unable to act because the company was not registered under the National Regulatory System for community housing.

The department funds the company to provide crisis accommodation in three department-owned homes but because the company is not funded for its rental homes the state does not require registration under a national system aimed at regulating community housing.

Instead tenants would have to take up their grievances through the Residential Tenancies Authority or Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal.

A broken fence in one of the homes.

In a letter from the department’s acting registrar, Ms Schmidt was told the Residential Tenancies Authority might be able to assist or investigate allegations relating to rent, rental bonds, property maintenance and pest management, while the Australian Securities and Investments Corporation might be best placed to consider complaints on governance, membership, decision making and transparency.

Ms Schmidt has told the Bulletin the issues are ongoing.

“There have been many issues raised with me in the time I was trying to help the Indigenous folk get a voice in the town. Residents are concerned about the impact on their housing if they raise the issue,” Ms Schmidt said.

One tenant, who did not want to be identified, allowed the Bulletin to photograph a faulty stove and water heating system and broken property fences.

“They won’t fix anything but the rent keeps going up,” the tenant said.

A tenant says this oven is broken and hasn't worked for at least three years.

A former director of the company, Laurie Kerr, claimed tenants were being treated as “Third World” people.

“It really needs a forensic look, I believe,” Mr Kerr said.

Mr Sowman declined to be interviewed over the telephone or answer questions via email but said he would talk face-to-face confidentially.

“We are trying to do our best to provide a service. There’s always two sides to every story. You come up here to Charters Towers and I will meet you personally and I will talk about it,” Mr Sowman said.

Company chair Carol Berry said she did not know anything about the protest until after it happened but declined to provide further information over the phone.

A tenant says the valve is faulty on this hot water system.

“No, you come up here and talk,” she said, but when asked for an appropriate time, she hung up.

According to the company’s website, it operates 39 tenancies. According to its 2019-20 annual report, it received rent revenue of $375,654 and paid remuneration to key management personnel of $138,548.

Originally published as Traditional owners protest charity’s ‘Third World’ housing