Hon. Steve Martin asks about staffing levels dedicated to managing disruptive behaviour complaints in public housing. The Minister's response defends public housing tenants and provides staffing numbers, while criticizing the framing of the question.

AnsweredQoN 991Legislative Council
Asked
22 August 2024
Portfolio
Housing

QuestionView source ↗

PUBLIC HOUSING —
COMMUNITY SAFETY
991. Hon STEVE MARTIN to the minister representing the
Minister for Housing:
I refer to community safety and
public housing.
(1) How many
full-time staff at the Department of Communities are dedicated to responding to
disruptive behaviour management complaints?
(2) How many of
the staff began those roles —
�(a) less than
six months ago;
(b) less than a year
ago; and
(c) less than two
years ago?

AnswerView source ↗

I thank the honourable member for
some notice of this question. The following response has been provided by the
Minister for Housing.
(1) Public
housing does not represent a community safety concern. The vast majority of
public housing tenants will occupy their homes for years without any
complaints. It is disappointing that the Liberal Party would seek to link
public housing to criminality. Given that the member was part of the inquiry
into the financial administration of homelessness services in Western Australia and supported action to increase the focus on prevention and early
intervention of homelessness, it is regrettable that he would seek to position
himself against vulnerable Western Australians in need of housing support.
Supporting tenants to remediate issues
facing their tenancies is a core function of the agency, and therefore staff in
a range of roles manage disruptive behaviour as part of their daily
duties. The department also employs 45 dedicated case managers and senior case
managers to respond to disruptive behaviour complaints.
(2) (a) There
were 10 staff.
�(b) There were
15 staff.
�(c) There were
24 staff.

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