Mackay grandfather with disability alleges inhumane treatment

A grandfather with a disability alleges he was treated inhumanely, encouraged to euthanise his dog and forced further away from medical care in QLD’s worsening housing crisis.

A pensioner with debilitating injuries says he is being forced to live hours away from essential medical care because of a worsening public housing crisis.

Denis George, 61, said he had to move to Moranbah from Mackay after waiting three years for public housing and euthanising his already-ill dog in a “sacrifice” to put an end to living in a tent.

The former telecommunications worker said he became homeless after he was terminated from his live-in caretaker job in Seaforth.

The grandfather is one of hundreds across the Mackay Isaac Whitsunday region being pushed to the fringes as Queensland Council of Social Service data shows public housing waiting lists have more than doubled since 2017.

The number of applications for social housing in Mackay has jumped from 287 in 2017 to 727 in 2021, an increase of 153 per cent.

Isaac has jumped from two to 11 and Whitsunday from 85 to 144 over the same period.

Grandfather Denis George, pictured with dog Max who he got after putting down Choc, says he was forced to live in Moranbah unable to find public housing in Mackay. Picture: Heidi Petith

Mr George said even after he made the heartbreaking decision to put down his pal Choc, the Mackay office said there was no available accommodation.

“So I rang up the housing minister’s office in Brisbane and within one hour of me talking to him, (the) Mackay housing (office) rang me and asked me if I’d come live in Moranbah and I asked them straight out, ‘Why didn’t you offer me that when I had my dog alive?’

“Cruel, hey … it hurts.”

Mr George — who is on a disability pension after two work accidents including falling backwards into a trench and landing on a six-inch pipe — said the larger than necessary Moranbah home assigned to him was “filthy” upon moving in.

He said there was dog sh-- in a bedroom and he spent three weeks pushing through pain to clean it in return for one week’s free rent, equivalent to $112.

Mr George said a stranger then approached him weeks later with a set of house keys and admitted to having squatted there.

Grandfather Denis George, pictured with dog Max, says his experience with the public housing system has been inhumane and debilitating. Picture: Heidi Petith

Armed with six doctor certificates demanding he live closer to medical services based in Mackay, Mr George has contacted the Queensland Ombudsman and Mackay Advocacy Group but said fighting the “inhumane treatment” was a “losing battle”.

Queensland Council of Social Service CEO Aimee McVeigh said there was “absolutely no doubt” Mackay was experiencing a “housing crisis” with a less than 1 per cent rental vacancy rate impacting all cross-sections of the community.

The peak body’s data shows the majority of Mackay Isaac Whitsunday public housing applicants were in “very high” need with many of them single-parent households.

“We’re hearing stories about families living out of cars, in tents, in any other type of temporary accommodation because they simply can’t find a place to live,” Ms McVeigh said.

She said along with a surge in public housing requests, the crisis was making it hard for community organisations to attract needed workers and pushing people, including those with jobs, to ask services for help.

“I think of real concern is about half of the people in Mackay who are accessing specialist housing services are aged between zero and 19,” Ms McVeigh said.

She said while organisations were showing “incredible resilience” and the Queensland Government had invested a “commendable” $2.9 billion towards social housing, all levels of government must do more.

The Queensland Housing and Homelessness Action Plan 2021-25 includes $36 million for 98 new homes across the Mackay Isaac Whitsunday region over the next four years.

A Housing Department spokesman said this was on top of 20 new homes already commenced in the region under its Housing Strategy.

But Ms McVeigh said 98 more properties was a “drop in the bucket”.

And with the government phasing out rental subsidies for low-income families, Ms McVeigh said the crisis required a “huge acceleration in investment” including a national rental affordability scheme and a boost to rent assistance.

“(Rent assistance) hasn’t been increased for 22 years,” she said.

Ms McVeigh said the current system of rewarding residential property investment through kickbacks such as negative gearing was making housing a commodity that could be bought and sold for profit, and it was pushing the most disadvantaged into homelessness.

One such person struggling with homelessness in Mackay is Adrian McKechnie who has been unable to secure employment since losing his job during the height of Covid-19 last year.

He is one of about 6000 people in the Mackay region living below the poverty line.

Responding to Mr George’s allegations, the Housing Department spokesman said the almost 2500 social housing homes across MIW were allocated based on the “complexity of the individual needs and circumstances”.

“People are matched to an available property based on location, size and amenity,” the spokesman said.

“Housing and support options are offered in the location people currently live and their preferred suburb location.

“Tenants are not obliged to seek approval from the department to be a pet owner, however the department prefers tenants advise they are pet owners so a suitable property can be found.”

The spokesman said all persons with a disability as well as eligible people 60 or over could access Home Assist Secure via 41 Queensland providers.

“The program delivers health, safety and security related information, referrals, home maintenance, repairs, minor modifications, and subsidised assistance,” he said.