Elderly women have been disproportionately affected by the ACT government's forced public housing moves, community organisations have said.
A group of organisations have banded together to call on the government to drop non-voluntary relocations, with plans to move more than 300 public housing tenants under the government's growth and renewal program.
The organisations have co-signed an open letter to Housing Minister Yvette Berry and Housing Services Minister Rebecca Vassarotti, urging them to stop non-voluntary relocations.
"We are alarmed at the impact of the ACT government's growth and renewal program on vulnerable Canberrans living in ACT public housing and are writing to urge you to end all forced relocations under the scheme and instead revert to a voluntary, opt-in program of relocation," the letter said.
"While we all acknowledge the acute need for more public housing, we are of the strong view that forcibly relocating vulnerable tenants threatens to cause significant harm to these individuals and is not an acceptable way to raise revenue."
The letter has been signed by more than a dozen executives of community organisations, including Canberra Community Law executive director Genevieve Bolton, ACT Council of Social Service chief executive Emma Campbell, Winnunga Nimmityjah chief executive Julie Tongs and Women's Legal Centre ACT chief executive Elena Rosenman.
Former ACT chief minister Jon Stanhope has also signed the letter.
The ACT government sent out 337 letters to tenants in February about the relocations. Multiple tenants have told The Canberra Times they were shocked upon receiving the letters as they had previously been told the program was voluntary.
The letter was vague - it was titled "moving to your new home" but had no details about dates, it only said a tenant relocation officer would be in touch with details.
Canberra Community Law has compiled data from 50 of those to receive letters. The snapshot has shown that 87 per cent are women living alone or with children. Of those, 17 per cent are single mothers with dependent children.
A significant portion, 61 per cent, of tenants have chronic health conditions, physical or psychological disabilities or are caring for dependents who do.
There are 14 per cent who identify as Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander people.
In an joint opinion piece in The Canberra Times, Better Renting executive director Joel Dignam and Canberra Community Law social security solicitor Sophie Trevitt said elderly women were predominantly affected by the program.
"A home is your castle. It is a place of memories, refuge and safety. For many of these tenants it is where they raised their children, celebrated birthdays, grieved loved ones and planned to live out their final years," they wrote in the opinion piece.
"It is not just four walls and a roof. It feels unbearable they could be forced to leave.
"Anonymised information published by Canberra Community Law shows that the tenants affected... are overwhelmingly elderly, female and living with disabilities or chronic health conditions.
"Their home is not just their castle but also their fortress against domestic violence. Their home is a place they have tailored to suit their mobility needs. Their home is the centre of their community, at the heart of the professional and family support they depend on."
An ACT government spokeswoman has previously told The Canberra Times that it was the preference of the government to allow tenants to voluntarily relocate but Housing ACT needed more people to be relocated to fully deliver the program.
"Many tenants have already voluntarily chosen to relocate to new homes but more relocations are required to deliver the growing and renewing public housing program," the spokeswoman said.
"This means that some public housing tenants may be required to relocate so that the program can successfully deliver more and better public housing for more community members in need. This does not mean households will be evicted."
