The following post got a pretty big response on our facebook page so we thought we’d share it here. For those of you who haven’t seen the standard response supporters are getting from the Premier’s facebook team, we’ll post that at the bottom.
Impassioned and heartfelt. A TAAS worker’s response to what the Premier’s Facebook team states as reasons for TAAS de-funding.
Christine: I cant describe to you how wrong you are. I am a taas worker and one third of my clients are at risk of homelessness, a service t support these people is NOT what the RTA does. Your decision to take tenants money away from tenancy support services is very wrong and will gravely impact the homelessness situation and unfairly burden tenants with debts that are grossly fraudulent. Today i spoke to tenants who;
- have lost their jobs are single parents and behind on their rent and are three weeks away from homelessness;
- an elderley gentleman who has had no stove or laundry for two years, rats,mould and no receipts for rent or bond lodged and constantly told to pay more money;
- a woman who fell through the stairs of her rental because its rotten and whilst in hospital the landlord enters her property slaps a notice to leave on her door and moves a caravan with another tenant in her backyard. She is too scared to leave her property not getting vital medication;
- two young single mothers who were given a notice to leave for nonliveability because the premises is a health and safety risk and squalor and when they move out being hit with a claim for $7000 to repair the premises and pay rent because their claim says they abandoned the property. These women were paying $430 a week in rent!!
- real estate agents illegally taking centrelink payments from the rent ledger and then breaching the disabled tenant for arrears; -the single mother who was listed on a tenancy blacklist because the agent didnt like her for complaining about repairs becoming homeless, living in a hostel without all her children because of age restrictions. Our service helps this family to the Tribunal to remove the blacklist listing and gets her back in a home.;
- another family also blacklisted unlawfully 5 kids split up, TICA refusing to comply with tribunal order to remove the listing, homeless. TAAS advocating to get justice for the hardship and pain this family continues to endure
……..is that enough. Common Campbell do the right and decent thing and stop this nonsense now. Thankyou please. 14 May at 21:42
These are comments from the Premier’s facebook team to which Christine was responding:
Campbell Newman: Hi Daryll – Thank you for sharing your views. What you may not know is that Queensland currently has 30,000 households that are homeless or at high risk of becoming homeless. They are on the waiting list for social housing. Last year, the Newman Government made the decision to tackle this problem by redirecting funds away from TAAS to social housing programs. This means the funds will be putting a roof over the heads of Queensland’s most vulnerable people. Tenants will still be able to access information and the free concilliation services provided by the RTA. The RTA successfully resolves over 70% of all disputes through conciliation. Residential tenancy disputes that cannot be resolved by the RTA can go to the Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal (QCAT). All parties involved in a matter before QCAT must represent themselves. This means there are still avenues available for tenancy disputes to be sorted out without matters having to go to court and more homeless Queenslanders will be able to access social housing. – Premier’s Team
There will be a hell of a lot more homeless households in Qld due to this short-sighted and ill-informed decision. Qld is headed for disaster! Reinstate these services now!