Claims of abuse, violence, squalor

Damning report on supported living for the vulnerable

ALLEGATIONS of abuse, sexual harassment and an attempted assault with a meat cleaver in housing supporting some of our most vulnerable people have been revealed in the Community Visitors Annual Report 2020–2021.

The report findings draw on records from hundreds of volunteer visitors who attend facilities such as supported residential services (SRS) to monitor care being given to vulnerable Victorians.

There were multiple allegations of verbal abuse, sexual harassment, and aggression across pension-level SRS properties in the Barwon South-West region, including in Geelong.

The report also noted there were several violent incidents where residents allegedly were threatened by co-residents wielding weapons including knives and a meat cleaver in the Geelong area.

The report said increasingly, SRS were housing residents with diverse health needs related to ageing, disability, complex mental health conditions and addiction.

“Often residents have been adversely affected by poverty and a lack of access to health and preventative services,” the report said.

Victoria’s public advocate Colleen Pearce wrote there was need for improved and stronger oversight of SRS.

“Any regulatory change must ensure that current and prospective SRS proprietors meet a strengthened ‘fit and proper’ person criteria to ensure they are appropriate service providers for this vulnerable clientele,” she said.

“A stronger regulation and enforcement system tailored to the sector’s operations that includes improved mandatory staff qualifications and increased compliance requirements for proprietors is required to meet the increasing resident complexity and the resulting challenges.”

The report said the SRS sector provided supported accommodation for about 4000 vulnerable Victorians.

“SRS are almost all privately operated and offer variety in the services they provide and the fees they charge,” it said.

“Many residents have complex needs and are well-supported while others receive sub-standard support and care – and some even live in squalor.”

The report noted SRS could be broadly divided into two categories – ‘pension-level’ facilities where residents are charged 85-95 per cent of the disability or aged pension, plus rent assistance, or ‘pensionplus’ facilities where residents may pay more than $1000 a week for their room, meals, care and support.

“Community visitors have reported long-standing concerns about regulation of the sector, and about services and supports provided by some SRS which charge almost the full cost of a pension,” the report said.

The community visitors program is organised into three streams, with the volunteers attending SRS, disability services, and mental health facilities.