How to be recognised as a tenant

A few months ago we discussed some changes to public housing 'succession' policies. It has long been our intention to provide an update on this but, alas, we've been distracted by some other big policy changes over the last couple of weeks.

When the changes were announced back in March, we didn't have much to go on - just a couple of unfortunately worded press clippings. Since then, the changes have commenced, and the policies behind them are available for all to see on the Housing Pathways website.

Here's our loose translation - provided for general information only and not to be relied on in pursuing recognition as a tenant. For advice, contact your local TAAS.

- An occupant of a property that is managed by HNSW (who is not a tenant) can apply to be recognised as a tenant if the occupant (who is the tenant) dies, goes to prison, has to leave the property for medical reasons, or is not able to personally reside in the property for an extended period of time due to some other acceptable absence. These things are now helpfully known as Recognition As A Tenant Events. HNSW must be notified of a Recognition As A Tenant Event as soon as possible, using Part A of the appropriate form.

- If the occupant notifies HNSW within 6 weeks of the Recognition As A Tenant Event, and they meet a few key criteria (including a promise to relinquish the current property so as not to 'under-occupy' if applicable), they will become eligible for a 6 month 'provisional lease'. If the occupant takes longer than 6 weeks to notify HNSW of the Recognition As A Tenant Event, and doesn't have a good reason for doing so, and/or they don't meet the few key criteria, they will be given a 3 month 'exit lease'. (In either case, the occupant should be made a tenant within 7 days of notifying HNSW of the Recognition As A Tenant Event, so that they may enjoy any remaining time they have left in their home to the fullest.)

Got that? Good. Now let's move on...

- When occupants notify HNSW of the Recognition As A Tenant Event, they may also complete Part B of the appropriate form, which is to formally apply for Recognition As A Tenant. This form asks the occupant, who we can now call an applicant, to provide all sorts of information about their relationship to the tenant, as well as to the property that the tenant used to live in. This information will be considered by HNSW in deciding what to offer the applicant.

- There are two things the applicant may be offered. The first is: nothing new. They've already got their 6 month provisional lease (or, perhaps, a 3 month exit lease), and HNSW reckons that's plenty of time to get everything sorted and head off into a glorious private rental sunset. The second is: approval for Recognition As A Tenant. The applicant will become a tenant, and thereafter enjoy the right to remain housed subject to a two, five or ten year residential tenancy agreement with HNSW - depending on their entitlement.

Right. Still with us? That's good, because we're not done yet...

- An applicant who is the spouse of the no-longer-occupying tenant, and who is also 55 years old or more, may be entitled to Recognition As A Tenant through succession. (Succession may also be granted to an applicant who is (or may become) the custodian of children who are resident at a property for which there is a no-longer-occupying tenant - but that's getting into the realms of the slightly-more-tricky, and we'll leave it to the policy to explain that).

- An applicant who does not fit that description - eg the no-longer-occupying tenant's spouse or partner who is not-yet-55-years-old, or their adult child, or sister, or live-in carer, or friend, or stranger taken in off the street - will not be entitled to Recognition As A Tenant through succession. These applicants will have to demonstrate that they are not only eligible for Recognition As A Tenant, but that they have an urgent need for housing that can not be met elsewhere.

Wait - what?

An applicant's urgent need for housing will have just been resolved with a 6 month 'provisional lease'...

... but the question of whether their real need for housing can be met elsewhere (that's the need that will be created when in 6 months time their tenancy is terminated by HNSW) will still need to be tested.

How these issues will be resolved on a case by case basis is anybody's guess. We'll be keeping an eye on it. Please drop us a line if you find yourself engaged by the Recognition As A Tenant process, and you'd like to let us know what you encounter. (For advice on the process, contact your local TAAS).

One last thing: HNSW says they will let applicants know if they are entitled to Recognition As A Tenant within 14 days of making the application. This means that applicants will have 14 days to demonstrate that, in 6 months time, they will not be able to meet their urgent need for housing.

As we said those few months ago:

... if what it takes to stay in your home, and stay in the system, is to knock back work, get sick, and convince Housing NSW and yourself that you're wretchedly, hopelessly unable to cope out there, you might well do it.

Termination notice for the Telegraph (part 2)

As we recently advised, we've stopped buying the Daily Telegraph, after its latest atrocious treatment of public housing tenants and occupants.

We reproduce below the TU's letter to the editor on the matter.

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Dear Sir or Madam

This is a complaint about your article ‘Houso rorters shown the door’ (The Telegraph 3 March 2013).

The article includes statements that are wrong and offensive.The article refers to persons who are granted tenancies under the ‘succession’ policy as ‘public housing freeloaders’. This is wrong: these persons are not ‘freeloaders’. They pay rent to Housing NSW – in most cases, 25 per cent of their income – and may have done so for many years.

To be eligible for a tenancy under the general rules of the succession policy, a person must be an authorised additional occupant of the property (that is, a member of the tenant’s household disclosed to Housing NSW). If the person is other than a spouse or partner of the tenant, they must also have been an authorised additional occupant for not less than two years, and eligible for social housing.

As an authorised additional occupant, the person’s income is included in Housing NSW’s calculation of the rent payable for the tenancy. If their income is sufficiently high, the rent payable will be the market rent.

To refer wrongly to a person as a ‘freeloader’ and ‘houso rorter’ is offensive. It is especially offensive in situations where the succession policy is relevant. In most situations where the question of succession arises, the person is also dealing with the death or sudden departure of a significant person in their life: usually a spouse, partner or parent. The Telegraph has insulted people when they are at their most vulnerable.    

You owe your readers a correction, and public housing tenants and occupants an apology.

Yours sincerely

Charmaine Jones
Chairperson

Changes to public housing 'succession'

This is not a pleasant thought, but think for a moment if the person you live with died, or suddenly up and left you.

If you live in public housing, and the other person was the tenant on the lease, you have to deal not just with the loss of a significant person from your life – you'll also have to deal with the prospect of losing your home too.

Under current Housing NSW policy, you may be able to remain in your home and take on the lease yourself if you satisfy certain conditions. Spouses of tenants get to stay on; otherwise, you generally have to show that you're eligible for social housing and have lived in the property for at least two years.

Now the NSW State Government has announced that it will change this. The conditions for taking on a tenancy ('succession') will be even tighter. If you're aged under 55 years – regardless of whether you're a spouse, or some other relation – you'll have to show that you satisfy the test for priority housing, a much tougher test. If you don't, you'll get a six month tenancy – a small mercy – then be made to leave.

Says Family and Community Services Minister Prue Goward:

This new approach will encourage household members to find housing in the private rental market and discourage their dependence on tax-payer funded housing.

True, it is difficult to see how some of the criteria for priority housing – especially those relating to 'urgent housing need', which are all about people being in very bad housing situations that they need to get out of – will be satisfied by someone seeking succession (that is, trying to stay in the housing they're in).

But we expect that people will do their hardest to pass the test.

If you're in your 50s, suddenly single and don't own your own home, what does the New South Wales private rental market look like to you? It's not an appealling prospect; in fact, it's pretty horrifying.

And if what it takes to stay in your home, and stay in the system, is to knock back work, get sick, and convince Housing NSW and yourself that you're wretchedly, hopelessly unable to cope out there, you might well do it.

Discouraging dependence? On the contrary.

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A further point, about the way this change in policy was announced.

Now imagine again that you've lost an important person from your life, and you may lose your home – and into the bargain the Daily Telegraph calls you a 'houso rorter' and 'freeloader', and the Family and Community Services Minister calls you a 'queue-jumper'.

People living in public housing have come to know they have to grow a thick skin, but this sort of disparagement would catch even the sturdiest person off-guard. Please: knock it off.