Public housing rorters to face eviction as seven-week amnesty ends

A NIGHTCLUB owner is among thousands of public housing rorters who have lied to get cheap rental properties to which they are not entitled.

More than 7800 calls were made to a Department of Family and Community Services (FACS) hotline from tenants confessing to hidden income or assets.

• PROTESTS OVER SEVEN-YEAR RESIDENT EVICTION
• PUBLIC HOUSING HOPEFULS WAITING FOR YEARS

A NIGHTCLUB owner is among thousands of public housing rorters who have lied to get cheap rental properties to which they are not entitled.

Cheating tenants who have failed to declare $26.8 million in additional income and $28.2 million of hidden assets must cough up $3 million in extra rent payments — and could be kicked out of their taxpayer-provided homes.

More than 7800 calls were made to a Department of Family and Community Services (FACS) hotline from tenants confessing to hidden income or assets — and people dobbing them in — during a seven-week amnesty that ended last week.

One woman called to confess she owned a nightclub and was about to inherit a $4-million property overseas, even though she lives in public housing reserved for the poor.

Cheating tenants who have failed to declare $26.8 million in additional income and $28.2 million of hidden assets must cough up $3 million in extra rent payments.

A FACS spokeswoman said the tenant would be kicked out of social housing if she earns more than the maximum allowed — now $595 a week before tax for a single person, $820 for a couple or $1205 for a family with two children.

“FACS will now track this matter and when she actually inherits it, the income she receives from the property and the nightclub will be taken into account in the rent she has to pay,’’ the spokeswoman said yesterday.

“This may take her over the eligibility limit for public housing and if it does, her lease will not be renewed.’’

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Another public housing rorter will be booted out of a studio apartment after admitting he owned a property, but he will not be charged back rent, because of the amnesty.

FACS is also investigating a complaint that 14 people are living in one home in the Hunter Region, where a tenant pays just $162 a week.

Another investigation by the FACS tenant fraud unit involves allegations that a woman given public housing as a “single mother” is living with her husband, who owns a successful business.