How a few people can make work really hard – the highs and lows of working in public housing support

Posted on 30 May, 2024

After meeting Louise, Senior Director Tenant Experience at Housing ACT it’s clear to see that she’s someone who is genuinely committed to helping people.

“What fundamentally keeps me with housing is because I’m a real people person. There are lots of opportunities to engage with and support really wonderful and fascinating members of our community who have unique and interesting stories of their own,” she says.

We have a dedicated staffing group that works tirelessly seven days a week to make sure we can be responsive to our clients. “But just like with any industry, there can be not-so-positive interactions. Particularly given current cost of living pressures and the importance of having stable housing” Louise says.

“When there’s financial hardships or homelessness, sometimes clients can take those frustrations out on our staff. So that’s really hard when people are turning up, day after day, to do a job and they’re being abused. The staff have done nothing to deserve those levels of anger or frustrations or threats,” she says.

“We would love nothing more than to house everyone straight away and not have waitlists, but unfortunately there is a supply and demand issue. And that can be terribly frustrating when you’re talking to and listening to members of the community who really are in dire straits. There are so many things that can be a pressure point in not having housing, so we certainly understand that.”

As a born and bred Canberran who grew up with a single mother living in public housing, Louise understands firsthand the pressures faced by her clients. So when it came time to find a job, she jumped at the chance to give back to the community and work with the ACT Government in Housing Assistance – and 26 years on, she’s still there.

“I just fell in love with the different roles and the work that we do in housing that supports so many members of the public,” says Louise.

From an entry-level position, Louise has worked her way up, taking on a range of different roles, and now leads a team responsible for looking after tenants.

“You get exposed to really diverse members of the community, and it’s really rewarding to support these people at times when they need that little bit of extra assistance with housing support, or if there’s a crisis in their current situation and to be able help them stabilise it, so you can see them excel in their lives.”

Working in tenant experience is similar to working in property management, including managing rent accounts, inspections and complaints. But Louise says the main difference is they bring a “social landlord lens” and work hard to support people to sustain their tenancies.

“A large amount of the work we do is understanding our tenants, their needs and looking to help them with what they need,” she says.

Louise believes social housing can get a bad rap in the media and greater community, and she’s passionate about changing that narrative.

“Sometimes it’s frustrating to me that we can’t tell all the good stories, because of privacy laws,” she says. “But there are a lot of good things we do behind the scenes that aren’t publicly known. For example, during heat waves, we call up older tenants to make sure they’re alright. And that’s resulted in us identifying a medical emergency and getting them assistance.”

Louise says that due to the occupational violence experienced, Housing ACT have a range of measures in place to support and protect staff, like regular communication and specialist training programs. They’ve also introduced duress devices for frontline staff, and have a range of follow-up supports in place for staff if an incident occurs.

But Louise says it really is only a few people who become aggressive.

“We don’t want to stop people raising concerns or telling us what they think. But it’s about doing it in a way that’s not aggressive or violent towards us. You can express your dissatisfaction, but use the mechanisms available to you, like lodge a complaint.”

“By far, tenants are lovely. So it’s one of those things where a handful can really ruin it,” she says.

And as for her career, if you want to work somewhere where you really know you’re making a difference, Louise says working in housing assistance is incredibly rewarding, with a good mix between field work and office work.

“For people who don’t see themselves stuck behind the desk from nine to five and love client engagement, there’s that real mix, and we have that flexibility,” she says.

“If you like working in a team with people, and have value-driven outcomes, this would be the job for you. Every single day, I go home thinking, ‘I’ve done something today that has helped someone’.”