Bad public housing tenants face eviction under 'tough love scheme'
PUBLIC housing tenants who trash their properties or who repeatedly fail to pay rent could have their welfare payments quarantined.
PUBLIC housing tenants who trash their properties or who repeatedly fail to pay rent could face eviction or have their welfare payments quarantined under a "tough love'' scheme being considered by the Newman Government.
Queensland Housing Minister Bruce Flegg is pushing for time-limited leases so that tenants can be regularly reviewed for eligibility, ending so-called "tenancy for life''.
The leases likely to be one, three or five years in duration, depending on people's circumstances would also be tied to good behaviour and on-time rent payments, giving the Government more power to act against bad tenants.
Similar moves were flagged seven years ago under Labor, but changes were not made.
Dr Flegg hopes to begin phasing in the new system from July as he attempts to address a mounting crisis within the state's social housing system, which he says is losing $1 million every fortnight.
It is hoped regular reviews will also help deal with the 12,664 singles living alone in houses with two bedrooms or more, often because they once lived there with a young family that had since flown the nest.
"I don't think anyone in this day and age expects that if somebody's circumstances at a particular point in time qualify them for public housing that that should then be taken as a life-time qualification,'' Dr Flegg told The Courier-Mail.
He said he wants to work with the Federal Government on mandatory welfare quarantining for tenants who repeatedly default on rent, extending a voluntary scheme allowing public housing tenants to ask that Centrelink pay their rent before handing over the balance of their social security cheque.
Eviction would be a "last resort'', Dr Flegg said.
"It's reasonable to expect (tenants) to look after the property,'' he said.