Pensioners face living in a bus as public housing tenants enjoy luxury

A couple have revealed they could be forced to move into a bus as they remain on a lengthy waiting list for public housing – while other tenants who have been lucky to get the cheaper rental homes are living lives of luxury – enjoying everything from BMWs to hot tubs, while paying around $100 a week on rent.

Now, Melbourne pensioners Linda and Cole have opened up about their plight on Channel Nine’s A Current Affair, admitting they’re being evicted from their small private home because they can’t pay the rent. They’re not alone, and another mother is living in her car with her children because she can’t afford a home for her family.

“This is not a game, this is reality. This is life,” Linda told the show, as she took cameras inside the cramped bus, currently parked in her driveway. She added: “I’ve given up. We don’t stand a chance at all. I really think we’ve given up.”

As she turned to her husband to ask his favourite saying, Cole replied: “It doesn’t pay to be honest,” in an apparent dig at the public housing tenants who are earning enough to pay full rent, but are remaining in state-subsidised homes as their declared income still meets the requirements.

Elsewhere on Tuesday’s show, Victoria single mum Danielle Bugden was evicted from her home, and is now forced to live in her car with her kids. She admitted: “Having to put my kids in that situation, it’s heartbreaking.”

Sunshine Coast couple Sandy and Nigel are also struggling on the waiting list, and now live between their caravan and car. Sandy revealed: “It’s been impossible for us to get public housing. I just want the basics – a roof over our head.”

Every Australian is entitled to have a roof over their head, but desperate families on waiting lists are forced to live in cars and old buses. #9ACAhttps://t.co/7Cd2mzLXWn pic.twitter.com/I6hm5jysD8

— A Current Affair (@ACurrentAffair9) April 10, 2018

It comes after the show exposed public housing tenants enjoying luxuries like flashy cars and hot tubs, while paying minimal rent just a few days before.

Angelo Dallas, 41, lives in Melbourne’s north side, and pays just $100 a week for the privilege. According to the program, equivalent properties of the same size in the same area are advertised for as much as $650 a week. He previously revealed he has no shame over his lavish lifestyle, which includes the two flashy cars, a hot tub, a Vespa scooter and a home-entertainment system.

Read more: Jobless public housing tenants’ lives of luxury, as vulnerable go without

BMWs and Mercedes in the driveway, spas out the back – these aren't your usual public housing residents. But their helping hand from the government is all above board and it lasts a lifetime. #9ACAhttps://t.co/0tzNlJhnMQ pic.twitter.com/aC0V9Lun3H

— A Current Affair (@ACurrentAffair9) April 3, 2018

While there is a $32,000 asset limit when applying for Victorian public housing, cars and furniture reportedly aren’t included.

Elsewhere, another public housing tenant, Rob, is an Uber driver. He’s accepting government support for “convenient and cheap” housing, despite earning as much as $1,000 a week and buying himself a BMW.

Now, a former employee of Victoria’s Department of Health and Human Services has claimed a lot of tenants in public housing earn their cash through “criminal or illegitimate” means.

The anonymous whistleblower said: “Departmental employees are both frustrated and annoyed at what is seen as an abuse of the system, which deprives more deserving people from accessing a public house.

“If a person has declared an income but on any common-sense assessment it looks like that income is far higher than what’s being declared, the capacity for staff to do anything is pretty limited and that’s what causes the frustration,’ he added.

“The rules need to change to ensure that there’s a process that checks the income that is declared, rather than just accepting the self-declaration.”

It’s raised worries about Victoria’s Department of Health and Human Services, which allows public housing tenants to enjoy “lifetime leases”. In a statement to the show, the DHHS reportedly said evicting families from their homes due to high income encourages others to hide their true earnings.

According to reports, people can apply for Victorian public housing if they’re earning up to $2,047 for a family, $1,518 for a couple and $992 for a single person. Meanwhile, the asset test for priority housing is just $5,379. 

If tenants earn above a certain threshold, they have to pay market rent – which is often still cheaper than the private rental market.

Do you think changes need to be made to the public housing system? Should it be stricter on tenants who are earning enough to pay their own rent?