Co-Responder Initiative

The Co-Responder initiative is a responsive audit of public housing conducted by the Department of Housing and Public Works (DPHW) in conjunction with the Queensland Police Service (QPS), in response to community concerns about both public and private housing tenants in an area.  

Housing, Police Officers and other targeted service providers go door to door to conduct housing audits, aimed at improving tenant behaviour and police engagement, promoting positive social norms and distributing material on community safety.  

Project Purpose:

• To assess tenancies for issues impacting on lifestyles and a tenant’s ability to sustain a tenancy (e.g. occupancy and overcrowding issues, anti-social behaviours, domestic violence situations)
• Undertake activity to reduce the impact of anti-social behaviours or lifestyle issues for tenants
• Engage with the community and enhancing community safety
• To engage the supports of other relevant stakeholders (for example, Cairns Hospital and Hinterland Health Service, Department of Education and Training or Mission Australia).

Project Objectives:

• Enhance the availability of social and community services to residents of West Cairns to address community safety and anti-social behaviours of housing tenants and neighbours
• Ensure community infrastructure is available to support community organisations and actions to address local issues
• Develop close working relationships with identified communities, encouraging involvement in the delivery of Taskforce and other agency programs
• Enhance community engagement between DHPW and tenants and enable the re-education of tenants of their responsibilities and obligations under the Residential Tenancies and Rooming Accommodation Act 2008
• Improve perceptions of safety due to QPS presence and engagement in areas where Co-Responder initiatives have occurred.