Pensioner living in fear

A PENSIONER in her 70s has been reduced to tears recounting how her life has unravelled at the hands of a vindictive and petty residents in her social housing building.

The woman is the latest of Townsville’s elderly social housing residents to come forward to the Townsville Bulletin with her tale.

The woman, who asked not to be identified out of fear of further reprisals, said since moving into social housing in Townsville she’s been the victim of thefts, abuse and bullying behaviour from other, younger residents.

“I’ve ended up paying for a new lock to be installed,” The woman said.

“Things go missing. I rang the housing provider after I first moved in, because things of mine kept going missing.”

After first trying to secure help, and file complaints, about the break-ins and thefts of her belongings, the woman found herself ostracised and targeted by those she believed are responsible.

“They’ve gone around the community, they’ve told shop assistants and shop keepers awful lies about me,” She said.

“They’ve put posts up on social media with my picture that I’ve found. I can’t cope with this anymore.”

The woman also had a fresh key cut for her locks, but that was also stolen.

“I’ve heard some people say that this is like gangland Chicago, and it really is,” She said.

“I’ve had clothes stolen, almost $2,000 to $3,000 worth of clothes stolen, I’ve had food and other things stolen and a whole manner of documents taken. Things that I need.”

The woman said she approached both the police and Regional Housing Limited with her concerns, but both times was left waiting for a real solution.

“The police, I’ve been to them multiple times, all that’s really happened is they've told me to buy a security camera,” She said.

“But I wouldn’t even know where to begin with that, or how much it might cost me.

“Regional housing told me to put in a transfer and get moved away.”

Chief Operating Officer of housing at Regional Housing Limited, Wendy Masters said she wasn’t able to disclose specifics about individual tenants.

“From time to time, neighbourhood issues can impact a tenancy, both in social housing or privately-managed housing, and we do our best to help tenants work together or use referral points such as dispute resolution services,” Ms Masters said.

“However where safety concerns are present, we advise our tenants to contact the Queensland Police Service immediately. Break-ins, threats, thefts, etc, are all criminal offences handled by police.”

Ms Masters also said that in situations where matters are handled internally, a certain standard of evidence is necessary to proceed with the removal of a tenant.

“We manage poor behaviour, for example, through a breach process and a notice to leave if the breach is un-remedied, but if a tenant fails to leave the property, we need to ensure we have the evidence to present to a magistrate through the Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal (QCAT), and ask for a termination of tenancy and a warrant of possession to get the property handed back.”