The NT government has admitted that its housing department mishandled an eviction notice issued to a group of pensioners in Darwin, acknowledging that they were not given sufficient notice. Despite their desperation to stay, the tenants are likely to be evicted before Christmas.
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00:00They say home is where the heart is, but Pensioner Kevin Cooper's experience as a resident of
00:08public housing has been heart-breaking.
00:10It's really knocked me around a bit, I'm taking about eight pounds a day at the moment, because
00:16it's just the whole thing that's giving me headaches.
00:18The 75-year-old and his 80-year-old wife are part of a group of tenants in a privately
00:24owned housing unit in Berrima, leased by the government.
00:28They were given eviction notices last week, ordering them to leave the homes by November.
00:34It's just not affecting 20 people, it's 20 families.
00:38The Council on the Ageing fielding calls from several distressed elderly residents and calling
00:43on private owners to again lease the properties to the government.
00:48You couldn't get a more secure tenant, seeing as we don't cause trouble, we don't have wild
00:53parties, so they are the ideal tenants.
00:57The government conceding its housing department should have handled the notices better.
01:02It really was heart-breaking to hear that they didn't see this coming, and so our commitment
01:06is if we can keep them where they are, because they're all very, very happy, we will work
01:09hard to try and do that.
01:11Again, we don't own the properties.
01:13The government's lease was originally signed with the Helicos company, but that agreement
01:18expires in February next year.
01:21Other houses are also privately owned, meaning multiple negotiations are necessary.
01:27Every avenue that we can take to keep the residents where they are, in the homes that
01:30they love on Bolta Road, the department and myself are absolutely working on that.
01:35The government concedes they may not be able to stop the evictions, they've committed to
01:39covering all the relocation costs, but that does little to compensate these elderly tenants
01:46having to uproot their lives in their golden years.