Chadstone mum waits months for DHHS to fix faulty oven

When a Chadstone mother’s oven broke in November she never thought it would take seven months for the Department of Health and Human Services to fix it.

Wendy O'Brien, who lives in a Department of Human Services home, has been left without a working oven since November. Wendy with her daughter Piper, 2.
Picture: Josie Hayden

A Chadstone mother of six who rents a home from the Department of Health and Human Services says it’s “inexcusable” she was left without a working oven for seven months.

The department has apologised for the unacceptable time it took to replace the broken appliance, blaming an administration error and promising to install a new one after Monash Leader got in contact last week.

Wendy O’Brien said her oven broke last November and she immediately reported it to the department. But despite frequent phone calls over the following months, it was never fixed.

She said the glass on the oven door had broken, making it unsafe to use. “We tried to cook in it and it almost caught on fire,” she said.

She said not having a working oven had a huge impact. “I’ve got six kids. I used to use the oven for most of our meals,” she said.

Mum Wendy O'Brien, who lives in a Department of Human Services home, has been left without a working oven since November. Wendy with her children Piper, 2, and Charlee, 3. Picture: Josie Hayden

“It is the department’s responsibility to fix it. We pay rent every week, we’re not behind, and we maintain the property.”

“It’s their property, it’s their job to maintain it, and to make sure everything on the property that has been fitted is serviced and working.

She said the delay was inexcusable and wrong.

Ms O’Brien said she had also reported a broken sliding door in her home to the department, which hadn’t been fixed.

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Victorian Public Tenants Association executive officer Mark Feenane said a broken oven was considered an urgent repair and should be fixed within 24 hours, and it wasn’t common for maintenance to not be addressed for more than six months.

“The department receives 300,000 call outs for maintenance per year and have a high completion rate, but they can and should always do better,” Mr Feenane said.

In a statement, the Department of Health and Human Services said it was committed to ensuring public housing properties were kept in a safe and suitable condition.

“In Ms O’Brien’s situation, an unacceptable time was taken to install a new oven due to an administrative error,” it said.

“The department has apologised to Ms O’Brien for this error and for the difficulty the delay has caused her family,” it said.

It said a new oven was installed on Friday and initial work to repair Ms O’Brien’s sliding door was due to be completed on Monday.

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