Tenants’ choice or Hobson’s choice: A study of the transfer of tenanted dwellings from public housing to community housing in NSW

The full paper can be downloaded from: www.shelternsw.org.au/docs/rpt01stocktransfer.pdf

The extract below is taken from the Preface by Shelter EO Rod Plant:

Tenants’ choice or Hobson’s choice …

Shelter NSW made the decision to look into the practice of tenanted stock transfers following reports from our members that tenants were not being treated fairly during the process. Most were offered no choice about whether the transfer of their homes would go ahead and they had very little information about their options.

These reports were of broader concern too because it was likely that tenanted stock transfers would become more widespread as a way of increasing the amount of publicly funded housing stock under the management of community housing providers.

Following discussions with the University of Western Sydney, we entered into a partnership arrangement to research the policy and practice of tenanted stock transfers from a consumer viewpoint with a view to improving the process.

During the course of the project, the researchers held discussions with tenants involved in the process, staff from the Department of Housing in both policy and operational areas, and community housing provider staff. On the basis of these interviews, we have made a number of recommendations to improve the process of tenanted stock transfers.

Since the completion of the research last year, we have had discussions with the Department of Housing about our findings and their implications for the practice of tenanted stock transfers. The Department has used this information in its review of tenanted stock transfer procedures.