Secret Rich Housos Exposed

[icyfroth]

SOME public housing tenants have declared they have assets worth hundreds of thousands of dollars while happily enjoying cut-price rent at the expense of more needy recipients.

More than 500 tenants of public housing  have admitted  rorting the system. Of those, 141  declared combined assets worth  more than $11 million while 456 declared  extra income worth a combined $10 million a year.

One man had   $450,000 cash and 20 others declared land and property ownership.

The state government put tenants on notice last month, giving them until May 31 to dob themselves in for undeclared income and assets.

The move  will bring more than $250,000 in extra rent into the state’s coffers  each  year.

Community Services Minister Gabrielle Upton said 77 more people were reported  by  the public.

“As a result, their rents have been increased, leading to additional revenue which can be allocated to funding vitally needed public housing,” she said.

There are more than  58,000 people in NSW on the waiting list for public housing. A man called “Mr H”   in  public housing on the Central Coast declared $470,000 in cash to the amnesty hotline: a $310,000 term deposit, a $100,000 compensation payout and a $60,000 inheritance.

“Mr S”, 80, of Leichhardt, told the hotline  about $60,000 in savings — $20,000 of which came from a casino visit  after his wife banned him from gambling.

“Mr N” was reported by  a member of the public who said  he owned a property in Penrith from which he earned rental income. The man had illegally taken over a public housing property from a friend who had died but  now must  pay an extra $100 a week in rent until the lease runs out and he is evicted.

While the amnesty is in place, tenants doing the wrong thing can report themselves without being pursued for prosecution or  back rent.

“Once the amnesty is over, quite substantial penalties can apply, including rent increases and eviction,” Ms Upton said.

The government’s previous amnesty held last year — on undeclared occupants in public housing properties — raised $8.9 million a year in rent, following more than 4000 reports from tenants and members of the public.

From Here

Lol @ "Mr S"!

Mr S”, 80, of Leichhardt, told the hotline  about $60,000 in savings — $20,000 of which came from a casino visit  after his wife banned him from gambling.

[freddie*rooster]

I don't believe this BS.

[icyfroth]

Really? Why?

[freakiness]

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@freddie*rooster wrote:

I don't believe this BS.

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Just got to demonise the housos so they look worse than the Libs embarrassed by ICAC.

Some of those tenants would have been in housing for many years, from a time when they were designed as permanent housing before the govt.s stopped increasing the housing stock numbers.

Regardless. of the 150,000 households living in public housing 500 is a very small percentage doing the so called wrong thing when compared with how many members of the Libs in state government, 5 of which have been caught by ICAC for illegal funding and money laundering?  On the surface it looks like 1 in every 1500 housing tenants might have done wrong compared to 5 in how many Lib MPs have been shown to have done wrong.

[purplecarrot-top]

Must be a slow news day. This has been claimed and reported before. No idea if it is right or not.

[freddie*rooster]

If Housing Department residence have that kind of money and assets it would be known by Centrelink and the ATO, it's pretty hard to hide an elephant in the refrigerator these days.

[icyfroth]

I really don't understand the vehemence of your response, freaks. 

The article is not about being down on Housing Commission Tenants, it's about people who could afford standard market rental not declaring their assets and cheating by enjoying cut rate rental that should be available to more needy families.

I would've thought that a step in the right direction, especially in light of the recent budget cuts

I believe this amnesty is an annual thing and was held last year while Labor was in government as well.

Don't you like to see welfare cheats exposed?

[icyfroth]

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@freddie*rooster wrote:

If Housing Department residence have that kind of money and assets it would be known by Centrelink and the ATO, it's pretty hard to hide an elephant in the refrigerator these days.

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From the article:

"More than 500 tenants of public housing  have admitted  rorting the system. Of those, 141  declared combined assets worth  more than $11 million while 456 declared  extra income worth a combined $10 million a year."

They pulled the elephant out of the fridge, it seems.

[freakiness]

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@icyfroth wrote:

I really don't understand the vehemence of your response, freaks. 

The article is not about being down on Housing Commission Tenants, it's about people who could afford standard market rental not declaring their assets and cheating by enjoying cut rate rental that should be available to more needy families.

I would've thought that a step in the right direction, especially in light of the recent budget cuts

I believe this amnesty is an annual thing and was held last year while Labor was in government as well.

Don't you like to see welfare cheats exposed?

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My vehemence?

I'm still waiting for you to produce all the political spam threads I produce.

It is about slamming housing tenants to take the heat off the government. It gives no indication of how these people acquired their wealth, how they came to be living in public housing, or how long they've been residents of public housing.  

It's not about exposing welfare cheats at all and no, I don't agree that we should publicly expose all those who have cheated welfare when most instances of so called cheating have been unintentional admin errors rather than deliberate theft.

When the govt has lost 5 of it's members to the back bench because of ICAC this looks like a deliberate attempt to demonise housos rather than fat cats rip off merchants.

[freddie*rooster]

I can't for a minute imagine anyone with the money for decent respectable housing would stay couped up in a 2 bedroom flat in a unsavory complex situation.