The Griffith Narrabundah Community Association (GNCA) has taken issue with Housing ACT, claiming is not complying with the Territory Plan, which an ACT Government spokesperson denies.

President of the GNCA, David Denham, says Housing ACT is “not doing things according to the rules” and would like the government agency to maintain the public housing dwellings they’re already responsible for.

Mr Denham and the GNCA claim Housing ACT have made a number of missteps, including distributing flyers in October 2021 stating they would be demolishing existing dwellings to construct ‘adaptable’ housing, which turned out to be ‘supportive’ housing.

Canberra Daily has attempted to source the flyers but have been told by GNCA there are no copies that can be supplied.

GNCA has also claimed that a Griffith development application (DA) by Housing ACT did not comply with planning requirements, although it was approved by the ACT Planning and Land Authority (ACTPLA) after several changes to the original plan.

GNCA lodged an appeal to the ACT Civil and Administrative Tribunal on the basis the proposal still did not meet planning requirements, but before the scheduled hearing, were told by Housing ACT they had surrendered their DA.

GNCA claim the required surrender form was not completed by Housing ACT and the government agency has not provided reasons for the surrender.

An ACT Government spokesperson said, “Housing ACT did surrender the development application for a site in Griffith. We consider a range of factors when deciding whether to progress or surrender the development application.

“All Housing ACT developments are designed in line with the rules and criteria of the Territory Plan. The ACTPLA is responsible for assessing development applications and compliance with the Territory Plan during the development application process, and this is no different for development applications lodged by Housing ACT.”

Mr Denham said the GNCA had proposed public housing be built on new development blocks in Manuka (Griffith-Forrest) instead of in the Griffith-Narrabundah area, which was knocked back by Housing ACT.

“Quite a lot of the properties the government do manage are in poor condition, and I can understand that neighbours don’t want to have public housing next to them. If they maintained the properties properly, then it could be a completely different scenario,” he said.

GNCA said they have asked for a meeting with Housing ACT, which was rejected.

An ACT Government spokesperson said, “We recently received a request from the GNCA for a meeting asking for Housing ACT to disclose the location of public housing sites.

“Under the Housing Assistance Act 2007, Housing ACT is prohibited from disclosing any information that identifies land that is a housing assistance property as a housing assistance property. As such, the requested meeting was not considered appropriate.”

GNCA also claim that Housing ACT demolished a building, giving neighbours no warning, while also trespassing on their property.

An ACT Government spokesperson said in response, “Housing ACT employs a demolition contractor for any demolition works, who is responsible for notifying adjacent neighbours of any upcoming works.

“Contractors generally do not require access to neighbouring properties to undertake demolition work and would need to seek permission prior to accessing any other sites.

“Under the Growing and Renewing Public Housing program, Housing ACT is increasing the number of public housing properties and renewing ageing properties that are expensive and inefficient to maintain and no longer meet the needs of our tenants.”

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