Call to protect vulnerable boarding house residents

A report by the NSW Ombudsman Bruce Barbour has revealed vulnerable residents in State Government-licensed boarding houses suffer abuse by staff and other residents and are denied basic rights such as access to money, family and phones.

'More than board and lodging: the need for boarding house reform', tabled in NSW Parliament yesterday, shows the level of care for boarding house residents is inferior to that received by people in housing run or funded by the government.

It calls for reforms to improve boarding house standards, monitoring and enforcement, as well as legislative change to protect residents' rights.

“What is evident from our work,” says the report, “is that there are fundamental flaws and inadequacies in the existing legislation and requirements for licensed boarding houses, and that these problems can adversely affect the safety, health, welfare and rights of residents.

“Concurrently, the capacity of licensed boarding houses is declining, and there are concerns that vulnerable people are entering unlicensed boarding houses, where there are fewer safeguards and no regulations.”

According to the report, there are an estimated 455 boarding houses in New South Wales, accommodating over 5,000 residents. Of these, 31 are licensed boarding houses, with capacity to accommodate 687 people.

Residents are typically reliant on income support, and pay between 75 and 100 percent of their benefits to the boarding house for accommodation, food, and consumables such as toiletries and cigarettes.

A familiar story
Mission Australia caseworkers from our Rawson Project, which provides support to people at risk of homelessness in Sydney’s inner-west, are all too familiar with the hardships vulnerable boarding house residents experience. One is currently helping a boarding house resident to find long-term accommodation and leave the $155-a-week room in Croydon that requires them to share a bathroom with 20 others.

This person lived in private rental properties for years but was evicted after the landlord wanted to renovate and found he couldn’t afford anything else.

He is also working to help a family move into a three-bedroom house in western Sydney. The grandmother, her adult daughter and grandchild - all with limited English skills - are currently sharing one room.

Our services has been finding that because boarding house residents spend most, if not all, of their income on rent they don’t have much left for food, and are relying on programs such as Foodbank.

Further reading:

• Boarders dying with no dignity


• Shocking abuse and neglect revealed in boarding houses across NSW