English-only housing survey locks out many
AS THE state government prepares to restructure public housing, feedback surveys given to tenants this month are available only in English, a foreign language for about half of residents.
Mere-Paore Epere, chairwoman of an inner-suburban tenants’ group, said the survey is a mystery to many residents. Ms Epere said the 4000 tenants represented by her group included African, Arabic, Chinese, Greek and Turkish speakers.
When she rang a contact number supplied with the document to ask if the survey had been translated Ms Epere was told it was available only in English. ”They said to get a friend of a friend to translate the questions, or a family member.”
While the 12-page survey is in English, it strays into a form of the language that might be described as bureaucratic gobbledegook, with questions such as: ”How can good tenant behaviour and mutual obligation be incentivised?”
“incentivised”, for realsies? omg
