Media release – Guy Barnett, Minister for State Development, Construction and Housing, 7 June 2022
Public invited to have their say on draft Housing Authority legislation
The Tasmanian Government’s plan to deliver improved housing services and increased supply of social and affordable housing has taken another significant step forward today.
On 24 February 2022, the Government announced the creation of a new statutory authority, the cornerstone of our 10-year $1.5 billion housing package that will deliver 10,000 new homes by 2032 and to create the most cohesive housing and homelessness service in the country.
The Tasmanian Government is committed to providing opportunities for community involvement in the development and ongoing review of Government policy and legislation.
Written submissions are now invited on the consultation drafts, Housing Tasmania Bill 2022 and the Housing Tasmania (Consequential Amendments) Bill 2022.
The consultation drafts make a number of changes including establishing a skills-based board for the Housing Authority and providing it with the powers and functions needed to meet the housing commitments made by Government. Homelessness services will be a core function of the authority to ensure we meet the needs of vulnerable Tasmanians.
The Housing Authority will consolidate efforts across Government to increase housing supply, deliver more affordable homes and units, and deliver the stock of houses and the services required by Tasmanians in need.
It will also have powers and responsibilities to allow it to effectively acquire, develop and manage housing and urban renewal projects.
The authority will commence on 1 October 2022, subject to the passage of this legislation, and will report directly to the Minister for State Development, Construction and Housing.
The business model for the Authority will ensure it remains a not-for-profit organisation and will include provisions to ensure that Communities Tasmania staff moving to the new authority retain their current employee conditions.
Consultation closes 5pm, Tuesday, 5 July 2022.
For more information and to download the consultation draft documents visit www.communities.tas.gov.au/housingauthority.
Ella Haddad, Shadow Minister for Housing, 7 June 2022
Rental assistance tenants at risk of homelessness left to the last minute
Successive Tasmanian Liberal Government Ministers responsible for housing failed to act to assist Tasmanians now at risk of homelessness as properties exit the National Rental Affordability Scheme (NRAS).
The responsibility for supporting these tenants rests with the state government which has known these arrangements were ending since they took office in 2014.
Current Rockliff-Ferguson Government Housing Minister Guy Barnett has today admitted in Estimates Hearings that he has only in the past fortnight made representations to the new Albanese Labor Government in relation to NRAS tenants and neither he nor any of the previous state Liberal Housing Ministers contacted the former Morrison Liberal Government which was responsible for abolishing the scheme.
Additionally, Mr Barnett said he had no information about whether his predecessors and former Housing Ministers Petrusma, Jaensch and Ferguson, had tried to liaise with their former Liberal colleagues in Canberra over the past eight years.
It’s become clear successive Tasmanian Liberal Governments and Housing Ministers including Mr Barnett in fact did nothing until the sad plight of a group of elderly NRAS tenants in Kingston confronted them in the Parliament.
The fact is a further 53 families and tenants in NRAS homes will exit the scheme this year. More will follow next year.
These are Tasmanians at real risk of homelessness and this is the fourth Tasmanian Liberal Housing Minister to fail to act in a realistic time frame.
Mr Barnett cannot even guarantee they will be eligible for the Tasmanian Government’s Private Rental Incentive Scheme.
In the midst of an unprecedented housing crisis, the Rockliff-Ferguson Government must guarantee that Tasmanians are not evicted into homelessness.
