❓ A WA parliamentary question on notice regarding public housing evictions, referrals to the Thrive program for disruptive behaviour, measurement of the program's success, and reports to WA Police concerning illicit tenant behaviour. The answer provides data on evictions and Thrive program cases, but declines to provide data on police referrals due to resource constraints.
AnsweredQoN 1748Legislative Council
QuestionView source ↗
(1) How many public housing evictions have occurred in the following years: (a) 2017-18; (b) 2018-19; (c) 2019-20; (d) 2020-2021; (e) 2021-2022; (f) 2022-2023; and (g) 2023-24 (to date)? (2) How many referrals of public housing residents to the Thrive program have been made by year in the following years, due in part or wholly due to disruptive behaviour concerns: (a) 2017-18; (b) 2018-19; (c) 2019-20; (d) 2020-21; (e) 2021-22; (f) 2022-23; and (g) 2023-24 (to date)? (3) How does the Minister measure the success of the Thrive program in addressing the disruptive behaviour concerns? (4) How many reports or referrals due to concerns about potential illicit behaviour of public housing tenants have been made by the Department of Communities to WA Police, by year in the following years: (a) 2017-18; (b) 2018-19; (c) 2019-20; (d) 2020-21; (e) 2021-22; (f) 2022-23; and (g) 2023-24 (to date)?
AnswerView source ↗
Answered
27 February 2024
Responded by
Minister for Agriculture and Food representing the Minister for Housing
Response time
8 days
(1) (a) – (g)
Eviction is a last resort for the Department of Communities (Communities) and is often taken to ensure the safety of the community. Communities works with tenants to ensure they are given every opportunity to rectify the issues impacting on their tenancy. This includes making appropriate referrals to supports and programs such as Thrive, which provides support to public housing clients.
Where a tenant is at risk of eviction, Communities will increase their contact with the client and link them with relevant support services to help address the issues impacting their tenancy and, in most cases, people remedy the issues impacting their tenancy.
Bailiff evictions follow where tenants repeatedly and egregiously fail to rectify their behaviour or engage with Communities to sustain their tenancies.
The decision to evict a tenancy rests with a Magistrate. A Magistrate will only make an order for vacant possession if they are satisfied that there has been a breach of the tenancy agreement and that the tenant has been given every opportunity to rectify the breach and failed to do so.
Public Housing Statewide Bailiff Evictions as per below Financial Years
Financial Year
Total No. of Bailiff Evictions
2013-14
252
2014-15
233
2015-16
315
2016-17
293
2017-18
159
2018-19
167
2019-20
93
2020-21*
7
2021-22
43
2022-23
47
2023-24 FYTD (as at 31 October)
20
* This year was subject to the rental moratorium
(2) (a) – (g)
The Thrive Program did not operate until October 2019. Thrive participants may be referred to a number of services depending on their need. This may include health and mental health services, financial counselling, aged care, income support, education and training services, and family and domestic violence support.
.
Disruptive Behaviour Case Numbers as per below Financial Years
Financial Year
2019-20
2020-21
2021-22
2022-23
2023-24
FYTD (to 31 October 2023)
Total
Total No. of Cases
258
347
268
250
44
1,167
- The figures above include participants who are currently engaged in the program and those that have completed the program during 10 October 2019 to 31 October 2023.
3)
Of the 4,127 cases which have successfully completed the Thrive program, only seven people (0.16%) have been subject to a Bailiff eviction, demonstrating the importance of providing support services to those who are experiencing issues in their tenancy and are willing to engage to remediate those issues.
4) (a) – (g)
Communities maintains a strong working relationship with WA Police to ensure incidents that are criminal in nature are dealt with appropriately. However, information on Communities interactions with the WA Police Force are recorded on individual case files. As such, this data would require manual review of individual files and is not considered a reasonable use of government resources. Should the Member have a more specific question, the Minister will endeavour to provide a response.
Eviction is a last resort for the Department of Communities (Communities) and is often taken to ensure the safety of the community. Communities works with tenants to ensure they are given every opportunity to rectify the issues impacting on their tenancy. This includes making appropriate referrals to supports and programs such as Thrive, which provides support to public housing clients.
Where a tenant is at risk of eviction, Communities will increase their contact with the client and link them with relevant support services to help address the issues impacting their tenancy and, in most cases, people remedy the issues impacting their tenancy.
Bailiff evictions follow where tenants repeatedly and egregiously fail to rectify their behaviour or engage with Communities to sustain their tenancies.
The decision to evict a tenancy rests with a Magistrate. A Magistrate will only make an order for vacant possession if they are satisfied that there has been a breach of the tenancy agreement and that the tenant has been given every opportunity to rectify the breach and failed to do so.
Public Housing Statewide Bailiff Evictions as per below Financial Years
Financial Year
Total No. of Bailiff Evictions
2013-14
252
2014-15
233
2015-16
315
2016-17
293
2017-18
159
2018-19
167
2019-20
93
2020-21*
7
2021-22
43
2022-23
47
2023-24 FYTD (as at 31 October)
20
* This year was subject to the rental moratorium
(2) (a) – (g)
The Thrive Program did not operate until October 2019. Thrive participants may be referred to a number of services depending on their need. This may include health and mental health services, financial counselling, aged care, income support, education and training services, and family and domestic violence support.
.
Disruptive Behaviour Case Numbers as per below Financial Years
Financial Year
2019-20
2020-21
2021-22
2022-23
2023-24
FYTD (to 31 October 2023)
Total
Total No. of Cases
258
347
268
250
44
1,167
- The figures above include participants who are currently engaged in the program and those that have completed the program during 10 October 2019 to 31 October 2023.
3)
Of the 4,127 cases which have successfully completed the Thrive program, only seven people (0.16%) have been subject to a Bailiff eviction, demonstrating the importance of providing support services to those who are experiencing issues in their tenancy and are willing to engage to remediate those issues.
4) (a) – (g)
Communities maintains a strong working relationship with WA Police to ensure incidents that are criminal in nature are dealt with appropriately. However, information on Communities interactions with the WA Police Force are recorded on individual case files. As such, this data would require manual review of individual files and is not considered a reasonable use of government resources. Should the Member have a more specific question, the Minister will endeavour to provide a response.
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