A performance audit of social housing services funded, or partly funded, by the Government, has found a number of problems with the Department of Communities, Housing and Digital Economy’s management.
In his report Delivering social housing services, Auditor-General, Brendan Worrall noted that some applicants had circumstances that required urgent social housing.
However, there was no central process to identify and monitor applicants for priority allocation.
“The Department’s assessment and allocation processes have not been consistently applied,” Mr Worrall said.
“We found examples where needs were not recorded correctly in applications, or eligibility was not confirmed before making a housing allocation. Some assessments and allocations were missing requisite internal checks.”
The audit found around 15 per cent of Government-managed social housing was under-occupied.
“Tenants are not required to relocate to smaller dwellings if their needs have changed since the start of their tenancy,” he said.
“The Department also lacks a formal process to proactively identify tenants that it can support to transition away from social housing.”
He said the Department intended to begin building another 6,365 dwellings by 2025.
“While the style and location of new builds aligns with current social housing demand, these dwellings alone will not be sufficient as growth of the register is likely to accelerate with rising interest rates and a tightening rental market,” the Auditor-General said.
The audit made eight recommendations aimed at improving the Department’s management of the register and application process, its housing allocation procedures, and its approach to managing housing allocations over time.
All recommendations have been accepted by the Department.
The Auditor-General’s 33-page report can be accessed at this PS News link.
