A notorious street plagued with issues
A Torton Place resident is fed up with the state of disrepair and level of anti-social behaviour at the social housing complex in the street.
Shane Turnbull has lived at the notorious site for eight years and said that promises of repairs were just that, promises.
“All the stuff that was promised to us as in getting this place cleaned up, and other bits and pieces we put forward still have not been actioned,” Turnbull said.
“It’s absolutely shithouse [and] the anti-social behaviour has been horrible.”
One of the main issues Turnbull wants fixed is the build-up of rubbish that sits stagnant for weeks at a time.
“A cage was all full of rubbish, that got torched and burnt out,” Turnbull said.
“We’ve had bins totally destroyed by people just lighting them on fire.
“So, there has been [times] where the bins have been totally burnt out and people are just dumping rubbish everywhere and it stinks.”
Along with rubbish, Turnbull is concerned about the graphic and concerning graffiti.
“Rubbish has been there for three weeks,” Turnbull said.
“We have graffiti on the walls that’s been like that for six weeks.”
Turnbull says the combination of poor ground standards and anti-social behaviour isolates the residents as their families don’t want to visit.
“It’s unliveable,” Turnbull said.
“Family and friends won’t come here because of the anti-social behaviour and what goes on here.”
Previous government’s failures there to see
Penrith MP Karen McKeown said the issues at Torton Place are working to be addressed.
“After a unit building was damaged by fire at Torton Place, Penrith, I worked tirelessly alongside Minster for Housing, Rose Jackson, to ensure residents were relocated to safe accommodation and delivered household necessities to those impacted after the units were closed due to asbestos findings,” she said.
“We are addressing the longstanding maintenance issues under the Building Homes for NSW program after a decade of out-sourcing, neglect, and chronic underfunding, which left social housing in a state of disrepair.
“The NSW Government has bought maintenance inhouse to take back control of this essential service.
“Under the critical $1 billion Repair and Restore Maintenance blitz, the NSW Government will continue to ensure that homes in our Penrith community and across NSW don’t fall further into disrepair.
“I will continue to advocate and ensure residents do not get lost within the social housing system.”
Landlord says maintenance is regularly undertaken
A spokesperson for Homes NSW, who are responsible for the unit blocks, said that they take maintenance concerns seriously.
“Homes NSW takes our responsibilities as a landlord seriously,” the spokesperson said.
“We investigate and respond to all resident concerns about building standards and take the health and safety of residents very seriously. The lawns and grounds and public area cleaning of the social housing complex on Torton Place in Penrith is serviced fortnightly.
“Homes NSW is aware of some rubbish currently at the site, which will be cleaned up at this service.
“We will continue to monitor the site and assess if more frequent servicing is required in future until improvement is achieved.
“A portion of the site is currently undergoing restoration after a block of 10 units was substantially damaged by fire. The builder has left building materials stored within their fenced area. This is common when building works are underway and these will be removed once the units are complete at the end of this month.
“As the landlord for public housing in this state, Homes NSW has a responsibility to provide our residents with homes that are maintained to a clean, safe and habitable standard. We recently introduced a new maintenance system for social housing in NSW that makes it simpler for tenants to log repairs and track when they will be completed.”
Emily Chate
Emily Chate joined The Western Weekender in 2024, and covers local news - primarily courts and politics. A graduate of the University of Wollongong, Emily has contributed to The Daily Telegraph and worked as a freelance journalist.