‘It’s not the 19th century’: tenants in new social housing block in Victoria say they go weeks without flushing toilets

Lisa Dillon pays $574 a fortnight for a one-bedroom apartment she shares with her husband. She says over Christmas the toilets in her building did not flush for three weeks. Photograph: Christopher Hopkins/The Guardian

Tenants in one of Victoria’s newest community housing blocks say they have gone weeks without being able to flush their toilets and months without being able to get a signal for TV, while their concerns over cracks in the building have gone unaddressed.

The $140m development in Dunlop Avenue in Ascot Value is the first development to open from the government’s Public Housing Renewal Program – now known as the Big Housing Build – and was heralded as the “most advanced” social housing project in the state when it was completed in March last year.

The estate was previously public housing, managed directly by the Victorian government. Since its redevelopment, the 200-dwelling complex offers only community housing managed by third-party not-for-profit provider Evolve and rent-controlled affordable housing.

But residents of the estate say they have had ongoing issues with the building management. One tenant says they have been served a notice to vacate twice in 12 months – and residents say their requests for maintenance are often ignored or take weeks to address.

Lisa Dillon, who pays $574 a fortnight for a one-bedroom apartment she shares with her husband, says over Christmas the toilets in her building did not flush for three weeks. She says she had the same issue in March, and waited another three weeks for it to be fixed.

Her brother – who lives in a separate apartment on the same floor – has had the same issue, Dillon says. He is on dialysis and had a heart attack in January and due to his health conditions Dillon says she had to help him flush his toilet.

“It was this whole block. My neighbour says she still doesn’t have running toilet water,” Dillon says. “This is not the 19th century.”

Dillon says when the toilets first stopped flushing a week before Christmas, she was told it was not an emergency and to use a bucket.

“With their maintenance, there’s only three emergencies and the three emergencies are: blocked pipes, smashed window, loss of keys,” she says.

Dillon alleges other issues, including that the building could not get a TV or radio signal for almost a year, meaning sometimes her brother has not been able to watch anything while he was in treatment.

“In public [housing] as soon as the TV is down, they come out straight away, or in two or three [days on the weekend],” she says.

Dillon says the fans in her bathroom don’t work, and she says she has not been able to get anyone in to fix them. She says she has repeatedly contacted Homes Victoria and the Evolve office in Melbourne but has received “vague responses”. She has sent emails to Evolve’s head office in Sydney and has not received any response.

“I can’t even get a job number,” Dillon says.

‘I don’t think it’s really fair dinkum’

Grace Bell lives in one of the affordable apartments. In her building, water is leaking through a large crack in the roof of the basement, leaving marks on the neighbour’s car, she says.

While Evolve manages the building, Bell’s lease is with the National Affordable Housing Consortium (NAHC), who act as an agent on behalf of the state government. She says the organisation and Homes Victoria know about the leak, but it has not been checked.

Another community housing tenant, Luigi, who did not want his last name used, says he has been issued two eviction notices within 12 months. Last year he accidentally reported his income incorrectly, and fell into arrears. He owes Evolve $2,000 and has been paying an extra $30 a week to make up the debt. He says he was waiting for Evolve to calculate a new rent figure, which would include a rental increase on top of his repayment, when he got another notice to vacate.

“I was waiting for them to rectify this [increase], but I’ve made another payment, so I don’t think it’s really fair dinkum,” Luigi says.

“I said I would pay and they agreed to it. I don’t know if I’ve got to go or not. I don’t know.”

Management of the Ascot Vale estate is the first foray into Victoria for the predominantly NSW-based community housing provider, Evolve. The organisation manages more than 4,800 dwellings, and last financial year, its parent entity reported a $16.1m profit. Its Victorian subsidiary, however, claimed a deficit of $325,645.

The organisation reported spending more than $25m nationally in 2022-2023 on property expenses across its operations, but would not detail when asked by Guardian Australia how much money it had spent managing maintenance at the Ascot Vale estate.

A spokesperson from Evolve said the company had taken over management from the estate in February last year.

“The site is under a defect liability period for the first 12 months and requires the developer to rectify issues that are raised,” the spokesperson said. “Many of these issues sited [sic] below only become [sic] known once the site is occupied and Evolve has worked closely with the builder and Homes Victoria to ensure all the defect repairs have now been completed in line with the 12-month defect period.”

A spokesperson for Evolve said its Melbourne office was staffed by two people, five days a week, that all complaints were responded to within two business days of receipt, and that there was a round-the-clock contact centre “for all repairs and maintenance requests as well as email options for renters”, requests for which were responded to “promptly”.

Guardian Australia approached the developer, Built Ltd, with questions about the reported building defects. Built Ltd referred the questions to Homes Victoria.

A Homes Victoria spokesperson said the Dunlop Avenue, Ascot Vale development has delivered 200 new social and affordable homes.

“The development offers a range of housing solutions, helping us to deliver on our commitment to providing more homes for more Victorians,” the spokesperson said.

“All homes are well designed, modern, accessible, safe, secure and environmentally efficient, meaning the homes are more comfortable, as well as less expensive to heat and cool.”