A Wagga woman denied public housing over a contested damage bill is leading a campaign to clean up Ashmont.
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The Department of Family and Community Services (FACS) claims Cara Domaille owes $6223.66 – $515 in rent and $5,708.66 for repairs to an Ashmont home she occupied from 2010 to 2011.
In November, Ms Domaille pleaded with the government to waive her public housing ban in a bid to move to Wagga to be nearer to her three-year-old son.
Having since moved into a private rental in Gurwood Street, the young mother has declared she wouldn’t move back to Ashmont even if she could afford to pay back her debt.
“When I lived in (Callaghan Street) Ashmont, there was a murder around the corner in Marshall Street, houses were burnt down after domestics, people harassed you in the street; it’s no secret Ashmont’s a terrible area,” she said.
“I had to get out of Ashmont and I definitely wouldn’t go back in the state it’s in.
“The department of housing has to stop building slums like Ashmont and Mount Austin and expecting people to live in them.”
Ms Domaille’s campaign – The Lotus Project – “exists to keep a record and give a voice to anyone who has had enough of violence, vandalism and anti-social behaviour in Wagga's public housing”.
The state government has conceded concentrated housing estates often lead to “high levels of crime, unemployment, domestic violence, tenancy management problems, poor educational outcomes and associated child protection issues”.
Wagga MP Daryl Maguire has engaged in “ongoing discussions” with community services minister Brad Hazzard about dispersing new public housing.
Mr Hazzard hinted as much when he visited Wagga in September, telling The Daily Advertiser “it’s much better to have people in social housing scattered through the community”.
“When Brad was here we talked about that model, which could have real benefits for the community,” Mr Maguire said.
