“These days the ACT law is ignored with respect to public housing tenants. It’s pointless to order compliance because there is no capacity to comply.” HUGH SELBY says the ACT Ombudsman’s chastising of Housing ACT misses the point. 

Housing ACT is responsible for nearly 12,000 rental properties, a large number for any organisation.

On Wednesday,  the ACT Ombudsman released a report, Falling through the Gaps, which is a study of how Housing ACT mismanages its tenants’ requests for repairs. It’s here. 

Prepare to be disappointed. As to why, read on.

Imagine that your job is to investigate complaints about the timeliness and quality of repairs on rented public housing.

You have received complaints from tenants about a particular landlord, Housing ACT. The number is sufficient to warrant an investigation that looks at all the possible causes of complaint and then sets out an action plan for response by the landlord that will alleviate the problems, and over time, get rid of them. 

A step-by-step guide to a useful investigation

Step one is to find out whether the size of the repair problem is big or small. 

An obvious first step is to invite tenants to contact you about their experiences as tenants. Naturally, you would use social media and your invitation would invite both good and bad experiences.

You would also trawl through Housing ACT records of complaints from tenants, looking at what was being complained about, how responses were prioritised, how long tenants had to wait and the feedback from tenants about the quality of repairs.

Step two is to have a close look at the legal obligations placed upon Housing ACT with respect to the timelines to make its properties structurally sound and safe.

Those legal obligations are clearly set out and they are quite straightforward.

Step three, therefore, is to see how closely Housing ACT’s repair performance  complies with, or departs from, its legal obligations.  

Step four follows from finding that Housing ACT does not have the capacity to meet its legal obligations. What applies to private landlords is fantasy land for the tenants of Housing ACT. Hence the step four task is to find out what capacity does Housing ACT have to carry out repairs.

Is there a budgeting issue?  What funds has our government given to Housing ACT to keep its rental properties up to scratch?

Given the earlier attention to finding out the number and types of repair problems it would be possible, by using quantity surveyor expertise, to measure any shortfall in the repair budget.

Step five is look at the availability of quality tradespeople to do the work. If there are too few available in any trade, then how is that shortfall going to be fixed? 

Can skilled trades be attracted from interstate or overseas? If so, how long will it take to get them here and where will they be housed when they arrive?

Given that the ACT has a growing population (it should reach half a million this year) what is the capacity of our trades training to attract new applicants and turn out “ready-to-work” tradespeople?

If there’s a shortfall how long will it take to fix it?

Step six is to recognise budget and trades shortfalls and address the vexing issue: given too little money and too few trades how does Housing ACT prioritise the repair work that the law requires it to do? 

What skills are needed for such a task? Are they “in house” or do they have to be purchased from the private sector or an interstate public housing provider?

The gap between law and reality

These days the ACT law is ignored with respect to public housing tenants. It’s pointless to order compliance because there is no capacity to comply.

The government could, in theory, share with everyone that we’re in a deep financial hole, that our borrowing capacity is stretched to breaking point, and that tenants should be asking emergency services for tarps for the leaking roof, financial assistance from charities to buy weekly a bottle of mould cleaner, and retired men groups to cut down broom handles to keep windows open or closed. 

That will not happen. Our leader will go on another wonderful overseas trip while the minister will say nothing, or, if absolutely necessary, utter some pointless platitudes.

When those we elect choose to see and hear no trouble then it is a tad unfair to expect public servants to do something else. After all, the best answer to complaints is to ignore them: most disappear because the complainant grasps the futility of it all.

Occasionally it’s necessary to be seen to act. Take Little Dion and his gran about whom and their leaking, mouldy home we wrote repeatedly in 2025.  They were much helped by Community Law and a community advocate.

Dion got an early Christmas present. They moved into a new Housing ACT build. 

But back to prioritising repair works: short and sweet – that’s a policy nightmare. It’s best to maintain the chaos.

Perhaps that explains how pointless the Ombudsman report is. Do have a look at it. It ignores all the issues discussed above. It’s a Band-Aid solution to a festering wound.

Hugh Selby is the CityNews legal columnist and a former barrister.