The VO says it's launched an investigation into how public and community housing complaints are handled, 'in a bid to improve processes and ensure fairness'.

"The investigation will examine if the current complaint handling processes are effective, fair and sufficiently tenant-focused, a release from the VO says.

Ombudsman Deborah Glass said her office had been monitoring complaints about public housing and community housing over the past year, with her office receiving more than 1000 housing complaints.

Delacombe resident Marlene Clarke is one of the government tenants whose home is slated for demolition. She says she hasn't heard anything about where the Leawarra redevelopment is in terms of scheduling.

Ms Clarke says a someone from the DFFH contacted her prior to Christmas.

"She said she'd get in touch again after Christmas, in January sometime," Ms Clarke says.

"So I assume she meant January 2022. Maybe she meant 2023."

Marlene Clarke's garden, which surrounds her Delacombe home and has taken decades to create, is her pride, but she's resigned to its destruction.

"In the new units they're building there's no room for gardens, there's no space for anything. I feel for the ones with kids; I mean, where are they going to play? In the street? That's why they're knocking down our houses here. It's not for a park, it's to build that silly... it's not a road, what is it? A 'mews'? Well it's not very 'amewsing', I tell you."

Terrible jokes aside, the lack of information provided to residents has caused damaging speculation, as people move out of the community without warning.

"Some people have gone already: the bloke on the corner here, he wasn't impressed; he told them they could go and do something quite rude with their plans. He's up and gone private.

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"The ones right around the corner on Sutton Street, they were the first to go at this end. I was coming home one day and I thought, 'Gee, what'sisname has let his lawn go.' All the years I've he lived here he's been there, he was here early in the piece, and it was always tidy - and the next time I went past I looked and I realised all the people in those houses are gone. There are trucks here emptying the houses."

In her statement about the investigation, Ms Glass said effective complaints handling was essential for accountability, transparency, and confidence in the system.

"All too often we receive complaints about basic needs such as running water and electricity, and reasonably maintained, clean and safe premises," she said.

"Many tenants tell us they don't know how to complain or feel they are not being listened to. Some come with concerns or misunderstandings about how their complaint was handled. Neither the number of complaints nor the common issues have lessened over the years.

"With the current government's focus on housing reform and funding of community housing, it is timely to review the dispute resolution mechanisms in place."

The investigation will meet with public and community housing tenants, and community services, as well as the Department of Families, Fairness and Housing and the Housing Registrar, and its report will be public.

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