The family of a man who took his life two weeks after being rejected from the public housing waitlist for damaging property, say the Department of Communities needs to communicate more with tenants' families. It comes ahead of a Supreme Court challenge tomorrow that could change the way public housing evictions are handled. A warning, this story discusses suicide and includes the image of an Indigenous person who has died.
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00:00Gail knew her brother Geordie had been having problems with his public housing property
00:06after their mum died.
00:08That's John and that's my baby brother Geordie.
00:12But she wasn't aware of the full extent.
00:14I don't know what the problem was that they'd said to him, because he didn't tell me.
00:19All he'd come home and he was swearing and carrying on and shouting, he was too much
00:24in his own mind.
00:26Geordie was evicted after verbal threats to neighbours and staff and reports of fires
00:30according to the Department of Communities, allegations his family, disputes.
00:34He stayed in this shed out the back of his sister's as he tried unsuccessfully to get
00:39back on the public housing waitlist.
00:41In October last year, a review of the decision confirmed his rejection, but didn't clearly
00:46explain the steps he could take to get back on the waitlist.
00:50The 52-year-old took his life at Gail's home two weeks later, found by her husband Leonard.
00:55They wonder if he understood he wasn't blacklisted for life, and wish the Department of Communities
01:00had approached them as Geordie's family to help him understand what was happening.
01:04They'd have dealt with Gail as well.
01:07She could have helped them through that difficulty, because he does listen to her.
01:13We knew what was happening with him at home, but we didn't know what was going on between
01:18those people.
01:20Housing advocate Betsy Buchanan has supported Geordie's family.
01:24She says he was also a victim of institutional child abuse, and so should have been better
01:28supported by the Department.
01:30I hope that they will stop evicting victims of child abuse, because often the behaviour
01:38that they worry about is caused by the abuse, and there are plenty of ways of dealing with
01:44that that aren't so punitive.
01:46The Department said Geordie received repeated written, telephone and in-person contact from
01:51staff to help him maintain his tenancy, but didn't answer a question about support offered
01:56after he was rejected from the waitlist.
01:59The evictions issue is set to be explored in the Supreme Court this week, with community
02:03legal centres bringing two test cases, challenging the Department's efforts to remove tenants.
02:09If successful, they hope the cases will force the government to change its policies, and
02:13get it to give struggling tenants more support.
02:16The Thorns hope whatever the outcome, the Department will improve its communication
02:20with families of those facing eviction.