Nearly 70% of public housing tenants in Kimberley await urgent repairs — ABC News Australia
In the Kimberley region of Western Australia, nearly seven in ten public housing tenants are waiting for urgent repairs to their homes. This is stated in the Broken by Design report prepared by the Kimberley Community Legal Service (KCLS), ABC News Australia reports.
KCLS surveyed 166 public housing tenants across 22 Kimberley communities. More than 95% of respondents said they did not consider their homes safe or in good condition.
Faults in homes
Survey participants reported structural damage, electrical faults, plumbing problems, mould and pest infestations. According to the report, more than half of tenants in Kimberley live in social housing, and many describe their homes as unsafe, unreliable and, in some cases, uninhabitable.
A licensed builder from Kimberley, whose name was not disclosed in the report due to risks to his work, described a house with a shower where the floor was collapsing and water leaked beneath the concrete slab during use. He said that over four years of working in the region, he had seen repair standards that would not be acceptable in other parts of the construction industry.
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Costs and KCLS proposals
Tenants cannot arrange repairs themselves. They must report faults through the Housing and Works call centre or a local housing officer. Staff register the requests and pass work orders to the main contractor, which engages a subcontractor to carry out the work.
KCLS chief executive Matt Panayi described the current model as expensive and dysfunctional. According to him, the problems are systemic, and completed repairs often fail to address the root cause of faults, leading to further delays and costs.
The report states that 85% of maintenance is reactive. The document's authors point to evidence that planned maintenance is more effective and economical. Since 2019, about $250 million has been spent on travel and overhead costs related to housing maintenance. KCLS proposes developing local maintenance services, introducing preventive repairs, strengthening quality inspections and establishing mandatory minimum housing standards. The Western Australian government is reviewing approaches to housing maintenance, including the model of long-term repair contracts.
