WARNING: GRAPHIC PHOTOS
A public housing tenant said she was forced to live with a mice infestation for two years, during which time mice would crawl over her bed while she was sleeping.
Another tenant was forced to use a portable toilet and bathroom for more than a month during winter after their bathroom was ripped out.
Situations like this have prompted the CFMEU to call for the ACT government to overhaul its maintenance regime for public housing properties, saying it should not be outsourced.
Sarah Gresham said her public housing property in Canberra's north was overrun by mice for two years.
She said she brought up the issue with Housing ACT several times. On one occasion, a worker was sent to her property but only put putty on some cracks.
Ms Gresham said by the evening mice had already started to gnaw their way through.
Photos from Ms Gresham show mice faeces covering her property. She said most mornings she would get up and have to clean faeces from her kitchen benchtops.
In another instance, Ms Gresham said she found a dead boiled mouse at the bottom of her dishwasher.
"I have found them dead in my laundry sink, running over my kitchen countertops, running around my room at night," she said.
"I have found mouse poo in every inch of my house; bedrooms, all cupboards, shower, toilet, laundry.
"I had a mouse run over me in my sleep.
"My whole house smelled like a mice den."
Ms Gresham said the mouse infestation began following an issue with a neighbouring housing property.
Housing ACT eventually took action two months ago after Ms Gresham emailed Housing Minister Yvette Berry and opposition housing spokesman Mark Parton.
Following the email, Ms Berry sought advice from Housing ACT and works began the next month.
Ms Gresham had to move out while her house was repaired as all of her carpets needed replacing.
She is seeking compensation for several items of furniture and appliances she has had to replace, including a couch and fridge.
Another tenant who spoke with The Canberra Times, who did not wish to be named, said he and his family, including three young children, were forced to use a portable toilet and shower in July.
He said the bathroom needed replacing and workers showed up at his house one day to rip out the bathroom.
But he was initially left without a portable bathroom. That afternoon following several phone calls, he said a portable bathroom was delivered.
The tenant received no further information about when the new bathroom was expected to be installed. He said he called several times in the following days but nobody showed up for four weeks.
Housing ACT has a contract with Programmed Facility Management for maintenance of public housing properties. This contract has been in place since 2018.
The contract was signed after a report by the Auditor-General found the previous contractor, Spotless, had failed to properly oversee its own and its subcontractors work.
CFMEU ACT secretary Zach Smith has called for the territory government to in-source maintenance of public housing properties.
"Our union now regularly hears from workers at the bottom of the subcontracting pyramid about the shoddy practices that are rife in social housing maintenance," he said.
"The solution is simple. The ACT government should take back responsibility and in-source maintenance of social housing.
"We strongly support Senator David Pocock's proposal to wipe the ACT's public housing debt so we can build more social housing in Canberra.
"We're talking to Katy Gallagher about a solution but there's not much point in building new homes if the ACT government can't guarantee they'll be maintained to a basic standard."
The Canberra Times asked Ms Berry's office about the calls from the union to bring maintenance in-house and if the government had also heard concerns about maintenance.
An ACT government spokesman responded to say the government was committed to the growth and renewal of public housing in the territory and more than $140 million had been committed to public housing maintenance over the past two years.
"This has seen a boost to the amount of upgrades and repairs that have been undertaken, improving the quality of housing," the spokesman said.
"The contract provides improved governance and performance mechanisms and provides targets for social outcomes, providing employment and training opportunities for targeted cohorts such as public housing tenants, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, women and young people.
"The maintenance contract has governance and performance benchmarks to ensure that the work completed on public housing tenancies are up to the required standard."
The spokesman said the government had an in-sourcing framework that evaluated and considered new and existing contracts. He said these options weren't considered until a contract ended.
Programmed has been contacted for comment.
Mr Parton also brought up the issue of maintenance in an annual report hearing this week, saying he had been contacted by several tenants who were experiencing issues with mould.
He described maintenance as a "diabolical failure" by the government.
"I regularly receive representation from public housing tenants saying that Housing ACT is either not responding to their basic maintenance requests or taking extraordinary time to even look into the situation," Mr Parton said.
"This is what happens when you have a Labor-Greens government that redirects public housing funding to the tram."
