THOLLAND STREET tenant John Hannah says he won’t pay more rent but concedes he hasn’t figured out what to do if he’s evicted.

The Vietnam veteran was awarded a disability pension in 1994 as a result of injuries received when his troop carrier hit a land mine. He returned for a second tour after the incident but technology at the time wasn’t good enough to detect the hairline fractures the blast had left in his spine.

As the gaps widened he endured years of operations and pain before finally being pensioned at the age of 43.

Mr Hannah scrimped and saved his pension — and some money from a divorce settlement — to put his four children through university. One picked up a young scientist of the year award and now works in Germany, while another is working on the globally significant SKA telescope up north.

Mr Hannah told the Herald he was hoping he’d reached a stage in life where he could take a few holidays and relax. But he says that’s unlikely if he wears the $355 a fortnight increase the Barnett government is whacking him with.

• John Hannah, with war medals displayed on the rear window of his car, with WA Labor housing shadow Fran Logan and Fremantle MP Simone McGurk.

He currently pays $196.20 a fortnight, which is 25 per cent of his war service pension. The higher rent will include a raft of currently unassessed allowances as income.

“Almost none of these allowances are considered by the tax office to be income, so why are they being included by the housing department,” he asks.

“War compensation has never been considered an income, not since it was set up in 1922. To consider the pharmaceutical allowance as income — well, that’s just a joke.”

Housing has written to Mr Hannah saying the increase will be capped at $12 a week until June, but after that he’s expected to pay the full amount.

Fremantle Labor MLA Simone McGurk met with Mr Hannah this week: “what has it come to when people can’t even afford to live in public housing,” she asks.

by STEVE GRANT