Over the past two months the Call This A Home? campaign has advocated strongly on minimum standards; better registration, monitoring and enforcement; better licensing; and greater penalties for non- compliance for private rooming house operators.

Following the work of the Rooming House Standards Taskforce, we expect a strong response from the Government in the near future.

To help achieve this, we’ll be inviting all Victorian MPs to visit private rooming houses in their electorate in the coming weeks - and we invite you to do the same. YOUR SUPPORT IS VITAL AT THIS STAGE – please contact your local MP and newspaper editor and invite them to visit private rooming houses and meet residents in your local area to highlight the urgency of dealing with rogue ‘slumlords’.

Visit our website (http://www.callthisahome.net) for ways in which you can support the Call This A Home? campaign and achieve positive and lasting change.

We look forward to working with the State Government to make private rooming houses safe, secure and affordable for thousands of Victorians.

Recent news articles on rooming houses include:

http://whittlesea-leader.whereilive.com.au/news/story/waiting-on-promise-for-rooming-house-inspectors/

http://whittlesea-leader.whereilive.com.au/news/story/whittlesea-council-s-rooming-house-investigation-continues/

Rooming house chief to face court

THE former director and secretary of a deregistered rooming house company will face the Magistrates’ Court next month. George Maatouk, director of the now defunct Northern Suburbs Accomodation (sic) Centre Pty Ltd, has been charged by Consumer Affairs Victoria with two counts of failing to comply with a Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal order. Mr Maatouk, 44, of Reservoir, will appear on October 12. The company was deregistered by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission on March 20 this year, the same day Mr Maatouk ceased being a director. The business name was used by Victorian Accommodation Centre employee Tony Cantafio on eviction notices issued to two rooming-house residents months after the Northern Suburbs Accomodation Centre was deregistered. Mr Cantafio wrote his surname as Cianci on the two notices. Mr Maatouk did not respond to the Leader before deadline.

Consumer Affairs has also set up a hotline for people to call in / email complaints about rooming houses, anonymously if they choose.

The link is: https://submit.justice.vic.gov.au/CA25691800094F30/CAVRoomingReport?OpenForm