Breaking News: Newly released data reveals that police are responding to incidents at a single Adelaide housing trust complex up to seven times daily, sparking frustration among tenants who are calling for immediate intervention.
The Kent Town complex, often referred to as “Dr Kent’s paddock,” has seen officers dispatched more than 1,100 times from April 2022 to October 2023. Dramatically, in just one day this March, police were called out seven times.
Helen Hayes, a resident of the Kent Town housing trust for over three decades, has witnessed a range of alarming events, including kidnappings and stabbings, during her time there.
“Every time I come home, my heart races until I’m safely inside with the roller door shut,” she expressed. “These constant incidents just wear you down.”
The troubling figures also extend beyond Kent Town. A housing trust complex on Carrington Street in the CBD reportedly requires police presence around once a week.
The data also highlights issues beyond Kent Town, with police being called to a housing trust block on Carrington Street in the CBD approximately once a week.Â
Residents there have reported feeling unsafe leaving their homes at night, citing regular noise disturbances and drunken behaviour.Â
“Death threats â ‘I’ll murder you, I will kill you’ â I hear that every week,” one resident said.
Opposition housing spokesperson Michelle Lensink has called for CCTV to be installed at the housing blocks, and for offenders to be kicked out.
“There people here who have taken this place, broken the rules, and yet they don’t get evicted,” she said.
“We want to work with tenants where we can, and where there’s bad behaviour, we call it out,” Housing Minister Nick Champion said.Â
“Obviously, we’re just a landlord. We rely, like every other landlord, on the police to enforce law and order,” he added.
However, Hayes said she and other residents feel unsupported.
“We very much feel invisible, nobody sees us,” she said.
