Outrage over house neglect

By Sarah Schwager
THE state of a public housing property in Noble Park North has sparked outrage among the community.
While the Department of Human Services (DHS) assures the house on Taro Place is tenanted, neighbouring residents say the house has been abandoned for the last year, and is overgrown with long grass.
Neighbour Denise Broesder said the only sign of life in the three-bedroom house was a man who occasionally came to pick up the mail.
“The grass is a metre high. It’s a fire hazard,” Mrs Broesder said.
She said previously the house had been tenanted by one man.
“It is a disgrace that they give a housing commission house to a single man when there are families out there who don’t have a house at all,” she said.
“What I don’t understand is why they don’t send someone around to check if he’s still living there.”
But Brendan Ryan from the DHS said the house was tenanted and that someone was paying rent.
“Our records show that the property is still tenanted and not abandoned as suspected,” he said.
He also said four complaints about the grass on the property had been made in the last year and on each occasion the grass had been cut and arrangements had already been made for the grass to be cut within the next fortnight.
Noble Park North Ward councillor Maria Sampey said she had visited the property.
She said the grass had grown to at least “two feet high” and that the letterbox had been knocked over.
“The house is abandoned-looking. It’s an eyesore for neighbours. I don’t think it’s good enough,” Cr Sampey said.
“It sounds like whoever the property is leased to is living with someone else and keeping the house, which stops someone else using it.”
Cr Sampey said there needed to be an investigation into the DHS to find out how they assessed their clients’ needs.
“We’re told all the time that there’s a five-year waiting period on these homes,” she said.
“When houses like that are being left to rot and families need it, it’s a disgrace.”
Mrs Broesder said between her and other neighbours in the area there had been about 12 calls made to the Office of Housing in the last year and in that time the grass had only been mowed once.
“If someone decides to throw a cigarette butt in there it will go up in flames, it’s so dry,” she said.
Mulgrave MP Daniel Andrews said he would raise the matter with the Office of Housing on behalf of the concerned residents.
Mr Andrews said he hoped that the DHS would act on any residents’ concerns in an appropriate manner.