source : the age
Screaming and aggressive behaviour is the new nightly normal, locals say, from a social housing complex on Ninth Avenue in Inglewood.
The block of 24 apartments was purchased by the state government and turned into social housing last year, igniting a series of problems in the area.
Now locals are demanding the government step in and evict a group of problem tenants and fear the issues will be repeated at a nearby location.
“There are a tiny minority of problematic tenants who behave outrageously, [who] make life hell for their neighbours,” Police Minister Reece Whitby said.
“They need to know [that] they can and will be evicted.”
Residents say there have been 300 police call-outs since the complex opened mid last year.
“A young woman I know who was on her way to work was bashed outside these units recently,” one local told 9 News Perth.
Another complex on Beaufort Street, just 750 metres from the Ninth Avenue complex is also slated to become a four-storey social housing complex. The state government says it will be for seniors only, but residents fear that rule is not set in stone.
They have started a petition to try and keep it restricted to 55 and older.
“I thought I was buying in a nice safe neighbourhood,” one resident told 9 News Perth.
“I spent more money to do that and this is what I’m dealing with every day.”
Last year a local business owner raised the issue at a City of Stirling council meeting.
“We’re terrified, and have been terrorised by the public housing residents and their visitors for the past several months, and we need your help,” she said.
“I believe this whole situation would have been avoided by making the complex of mixed tenure, which is a combination of private, affordable and social housing. It’s 100 per cent state housing and the disastrous effects on the community are glaringly obvious.”
The Department of Communities has been contacted for comment.
With 9 News Perth
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