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January 11, 2008
Govt rejects anger over dead man unnoticed for 1yr.
A neighbour called the police "concerned because the man's letterbox was overflowing"
The man was a public housing tenant.
Neighbours are angry because the NSW Housing Department didn't check up on the man. Apparently the department had promised to check up on tenants every six months after three other elderly public housing tenants had died unnoticed in 2006.
It's no surprise that elderly people reduced to public housing don't get regular visits from family, friends and neighbours. The foreseeable consequence is that people will die on their own and sometimes it will take a while for anyone to notice.
Without any other details available, let's assume these are pensioners whose payments are conveniently deposited into accounts somewhere in the enormous banking industry. Nobody would notice small sums accumulating. We can also assume that rent is automatically deducted and deposited wherever public housing rental payments go. Nobody notices regular payments.
After a few months, let alone a year, the junk mail alone would fill a wheelie bin. But let's assume polite neighbours don't like to directly approach one another about aesthetic misdemeanours or clear one another's letterboxes without permission.
Neighbours and the opposition are cranky because the housing department should routinely check its tenants. The minister quite rightly points out that tenants are entitled to privacy. If they don't respond to a phone call, letter or note left under the door, that's their business.
Isn't this what we wanted? We don't have to take care of our elderly, we have convenient money transfer systems, neighbours don't interfere, we have public housing and we have privacy. And when something goes wrong we have governments we can hold responsible.
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Lyn,
In a local gov. area adjacent to me a group has organised a volunteer phone around service. Every morning they give an oldy a ring a bit of a chat and move on if all is well. The roster is changed regularly to avoid unwanted enduring linkages on both sides. Last I heard it was a great success. The trouble is most of the participants probably need a phone call themselves!
Only joking. But volunteers are in short supply and it takes someone with skill to get things off the ground. Local Gov. Councils could be encouraged to take an initiative though.