Public and Community Housing Rankings – VIC, QLD, WA on Bottom

Media release – Council to Homeless Persons, 23 January 2024

Victoria rock bottom of Australia’s public and community housing rankings

Victoria has fallen further behind the nation in providing public and community housing, with the state cemented in last place for public and community dwellings.

The Productivity Commission’s Report on Government Services, released today, reveals public and community housing residents make up just 2.8 per cent of Victoria’s households.

This is the lowest percentage in Australia, which has a national average of 4.1 per cent.

The State Government has promised to deliver 80,000 homes a year for the next decade, but failed to make a firm commitment to build desperately needed public and community housing.

Council to Homeless Persons Chief Executive Officer Deborah Di Natale said urgent investment in public and community housing was needed.

“Victoria has the lowest proportion of public and community housing at the same time as the rental crisis is pushing more people into homelessness,” she said.

“The Big Housing Build has helped moved thousands of Victorians out of homelessness, and into safe homes. But we need a Big Housing Build every 18 months if we’re going to get the state off the bottom of the table on public and community housing.

“Concerningly, there’s been no announcements about the future of new public and community housing once the Big Housing Build stops funding new projects from the end of June.

“The state government’s housing commitment of 80,000 private developments a year for a decade needs to be matched with a guarantee for some public and community housing. That seems to have been forgotten.”

Victoria’s statewide rental vacancy rate is just 1.17 per cent, according to the latest PropTrack data, which revealed just 7300 homes were available last month.

Rental prices in Melbourne rose 15.1 per cent in the past 12 months, while regional areas are also facing persistently high prices.

Australia’s social housing league table

Source: Productivity Commission

Media release – Vica Bayley MP, Greens Housing spokesperson, 23 January 2024

Government’s ‘Housing First’ Commitment Doesn’t Stack Up

Today’s housing and homelessness Report on Government Services lay bare the Liberals’ failure to address Tasmania’s deepening housing crisis.

The Rockliff Government bragged about adopting a ‘Housing First’ model and tackling homelessness, but the data tells the true story. Tasmania is the furthest from from realising this policy of any state in the country.

16% of national daily unassisted requests for accommodation services are Tasmanian. This is despite our island state only accounting 2% of Australia’s population.

When trying to secure public housing, Tasmanians in the greatest need waited an average of 21 months to be housed – a figure more than a year longer than the national average. That’s almost two years of insecurity and stress.

We also understand Homes Tasmania’s budget submission that included a request for more money for homelessness services was rejected – a fact the Treasurer would not deny.

In the midst of a housing crisis the Liberals’ refusal of a desperate request from their own housing entity is outrageous.

The Liberals’ priorities are clear. They’re spending available resources on an unwanted billion dollar stadium, while people languish on long lists for waiting for support and a secure home.

With no tangible steps in place, Tasmania is nowhere near reaching the goal of 10,000 new homes by 2032. The Liberals’ ambitious and far off target looks less and less possible as Tasmania backslides annually on key performance measures.

How can the Rockliff Government pretend to be committed to a Housing First model – it’s simply not true. The Liberals’ investment in spin far outweighs their investment in building and providing safe and secure homes for Tasmanians.

Media release – Ella Haddad MP, Shadow Minister for Housing, 23 January 2024

Cherry-picked statistics cold comfort for Tasmanians on housing waitlist

Acting Minister for Housing Roger Jaensch’s attempts to spin new housing data as a positive is a slap in the face to Tasmanians stuck on the record-long housing waitlist.

The Minister’s cherry-picked statistics from the Productivity Commission’s Report on Government Services data will provide little comfort to the 4,701 families waiting for a home.

For example, the data shows the top 50th percentile of new households on the waiting list in the greatest need waited 21 months to be housed. This is up from 15 months last year and is the longest in the country outside NT.

We know that after 10 years of a Liberal government, Tasmania’s housing waitlist is longer than ever at 4,701 applications.

The average time to house priority applicants in November rose to an absolutely staggering 94.7 weeks, which is far too long for a family that desperately needs housing to wait.

A Labor government would make providing the housing Tasmanians need a priority.

Under our Build to Rent program, Tasmania would see an increase of at least 1,000 additional private rental homes enter the market within the first five years and stay in the private rental market for 30 years.

A State Labor Government will also expand the MyHome scheme and get more people into home ownership, driving the market for more new houses.

These initiatives would be delivered on top of the 10,000 social and government homes committed to by the government before 2032.

After 10 years of a Liberal government, Tasmania’s housing waitlist is the longest it’s ever been. If they haven’t addressed the major housing issues by now, they never will.