Revelations the government is completely fudging the numbers* on their promise to deliver 10,000 homes by 2032 are extraordinary and show the Liberals’ lack of commitment to fixing the housing crisis.
When the Liberals promised they were going to deliver 10,000 new homes, like all Tasmanians we thought that’s exactly what they intended to do. But ever since that announcement we’ve seen them more focused on fudging the numbers than on building houses.
The idea of delivering 10,000 homes is a welcome one. The problem we have consistently raised is that this target has never been backed up by the investment needed to achieve it. This is more about Liberal politicians being able to say they’re doing something than it is about actually doing it.
The promise made by the government in 2022 was clear – they would deliver “10,000 new dwellings” by 2032. These documents show they are not doing that – far from it. Instead they’re resorting to sneaky and absurd accounting tricks.
The decision to count households that are temporarily helped through private rental incentives towards the target of 10,000 homes is ludicrous. As is counting land that’s released for sale.
The housing waitlist has blown out under the Liberals, with many thousands of Tasmania’s waiting desperately for a home. Accounting tricks and counting homes that aren’t real is part of the reason the waitlist is growing.
The Liberals should be putting a billion dollars into actually building 10,000 homes, but they’re putting it towards a stadium instead. Tasmanians deserve better.
* https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-10-17/tasmanian-government-10-thousand-new-homes-detailed/104479750
