Mr BAYLEY (Clark) – I rise tonight in Homelessness Week to talk about homelessness and to join the call for more action to address what is currently an ever-expanding challenge, which is an ever-expanding curse for those in its grips. I acknowledge upfront that I have been fortunate to always have a safe, secure place to call home. I grew up in a loving, secure family. I rented in the 1990s and early 2000s when availability and expense were not the issue they are today, and since then I have owned a house with a manageable mortgage shared with a partner in both love and finance. But an ever-growing cohort of Tasmanians are not so lucky.
The causes of homelessness are both many and varied: mental health and health issues, domestic violence, relationship failure and family breakdown, cost of living, rental expense and availability, and lack of options for prisoners on release. Homelessness is not just someone sleeping rough, though we have our share of those. Homelessness is sleeping in cars and vans ever on the move to avoid moving on. Homelessness includes couch surfers temporarily crashing with friends and family or anyone else who can offer some shelter. Homelessness is living in precarious, overcrowded or substandard accommodation with no options for something better. Homelessness is existing in crisis or emergency accommodation, a short-term escape with limited or no long‑term prospects.
It is Homelessness Week, and the theme is one we Greens get behind: ‘Homelessness – Action Now’. As eloquently put by Heather from St Vincent de Paul at this morning’s breakfast, ‘Advocacy ends. It is time for action’. It is indeed time for action, because the statistics are getting worse. In a cost‑of‑living crisis, in a male violence epidemic, in a housing crisis, the numbers tell a disturbing story. In the five years from 2016 to 2021, homelessness grew by 45 per cent, with 2350 people homeless in Tasmania. Things have only worsened since 2021.
At that point, the census identified 231 Tasmanian sleeping rough. In 2021, 25 per cent of homeless people were young, with a shocking 14 per cent of the total number being under 12 years old. At the other end of the spectrum, older women are a growing cohort of people facing or experiencing homelessness: women leaving relationships, women with limited superannuation, women fleeing domestic violence, and women who have interrupted their careers to be the primary carer of children with limited superannuation.
Last week I joined with others to view Sue Thompson’s insightful documentary Undercover – The Hidden Faces of Homelessness. This followed the experience of a handful of women living in cars and crisis accommodation as they coped with changed circumstances that saw them stripped of a home and looking for alternatives.
This film, along with the tireless work of non‑government organisations like Shelter Tas, TasCOSS, Vinnies, Colony 47, City Mission and the Tenants Union is the advocacy that informs and urges action. What is the action that is needed? There are the tenancy reforms that we have moved and will continue to move in this place. Things like rent control, ending no‑cause evictions and reining in short‑stay conversions of whole‑home rentals will boost tenants’ rights and security so they can find a place to call home and keep it.
Increasing the supply of social and affordable housing by increasing public investment and government taking on the construction of publicly‑owned homes to cut the profit margin demanded by construction companies is important. Currently, investment is inadequate to meet the construction target set by government and we have a farcical situation where vacant land and crisis accommodation is dealt into government housing statistics and Homes Tasmania is saddled with debt.
Just last month the Legislative Council committee inquiring into Homes Tasmania heard from the minister that Homes Tasmania will carry a staggering $457 million of debt by 2027. We support advocates’ calls for private development to include social and affordable components so that it becomes more distributed across the community with better access to transport and other services. We support the initiatives put forward by charities and housing providers for the emergency services they provide.
I look forward to visiting Hobart City Mission’s safe night space with the support of Shelter Tasmania, and I encourage anyone interested in getting along to go. The facility in Davey Street will be open to the public this Friday and Saturday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. to raise awareness of homelessness and the work of the Hobart City Mission and the facilities it offers.
Of critical importance on the action front, we need a plan for homelessness going forward. Tasmania needs a strategy that tackles youth homelessness with funding and awareness raising so that young Tasmanians needing help know their options.
During the election campaign, to support to support a policy of developing a youth homelessness strategy, we heard from two young Tasmanians who found homelessness harder simply because they had no knowledge of their options. We need options for kids leaving out‑of‑home care, we need supported accommodation choices with wrap‑around services, and we need more investment in the people and structures that support young people doing it tough. Tasmania has just 2 per cent of Australia’s population, but 16 per cent of daily unassisted requests for accommodation services come from the state.
Not only are services stretched with demand but often by the complexity of the cases young people facing homelessness have. Tasmania needs government engagement with youth homelessness service providers and stakeholders to ensure organisational funding and workforce development is sustainable.
This coming Budget is going to be a shocker. We have seen the early signs of cuts and vacancy control. We are hearing the fears of the community services sector who have no guarantees of their mid‑term prospects and government funding in the outer years of their projects. With a billion‑dollar stadium sucking up resources, both financial and human, the September budget will be a tell‑tale indicator of this government’s commitment to its people and investments in the issue. We Greens implore the government to focus on our future.
To finish with the words of Tania Hunt of the Youth Network of Tasmania, the peak body for 12 to 25‑year‑olds:
Tasmania’s first 20‑year housing strategy fails to adequately respond to the unique and often complex care and housing needs of all children and young people in Tasmania. We need a targeted plan.
Thanks to Heather and St Vinnies for the breakfast this morning and to all the advocates and activists for your work in elevating this issue. Thanks to the service providers and support staff working at the coal face with the homeless.
There is no doubt we need action. Housing is a human right and in Tasmania, poverty and homelessness is a choice. It is not a personal choice or an individual choice. When you have no agency and options, you have no choice. Homelessness is a political choice, a decision of government about what to prioritise and who to support, what to fund and whose interests to serve. We stand with the advocates in calling for action. Enough of the advocacy, it is time for action.
To finish, to those sleeping rough or existing in crisis accommodation, overcrowded rentals and substandard housing, we see you. We acknowledge your situation and commit to redoubling our efforts to resolve it.
Time expired.
