Ms O’CONNOR question to MINISTER for HOUSING and PLANNING, Mr VINCENT
Anglicare’s Social Action and Research Centre has released figures about housing and homelessness in Tasmania and they are both depressing and damning. The snapshot tells the tale of people living in inadequate housing and languishing on the housing wait list, which is at its highest level ever. It says a growing number of Tasmanians are living in conditions more commonly seen in developing countries, because there is no housing they can afford.
The report observes that compared to the same time last year, the number of Tasmanians seeking housing support has increased by 34 per cent. Anglicare recommends the government you’re part of works for social housing and supported accommodation providers to improve social housing allocation, fund delivery of more crisis accommodation, transitional housing and social homes. Work with Commonwealth counterparts to scale up investment and long‑term social housing, commit to reducing the harmful impacts of waiting for social housing and improve importing, reporting and measuring.
Have you read the SARC report and how are you acting on the advice of frontline providers like Anglicare to improve the welfare of Tasmanians needing a safe and permanent roof over their heads?
ANSWER
Mr President, I haven’t read the full report, but I have read the article and pieces of it and I am meeting with Chris Jones next week to discuss in a bit more detail. I have had meetings with Chris and have known him through my mayoral duties for a number of years. I always enjoyed our discussions on a lot of different things. You’re quite right, it is damning; and I think the part where we’ve been quoting 1 per cent rental rates, they have fallen now to about half that. That’s quite a disturbing trend that really worries me, because it’s next to zero.
There is also some movement, he mentioned, about a couple of the different packages that we have, including the private rental incentive and the family violence rapid rehousing. There is quite substantial growth in some of those areas: 34 per cent up on last year. I know it doesn’t fix everything, but it shows we are addressing some of those issues. I look forward to talking to Chris about how we can address them a lot more in those areas.
I have stated in both Houses with my questions that most of the time as Housing minister is not spent with just the normal construction stuff ‑ I think that takes care of itself, largely ‑ but with the crisis care in youth, women in care, children, and so many different parts of that. There are some areas that we need to do better. Am I happy with the situation? Of course I’m not. It’s on my shoulders now, and I will make every opportunity to improve these. I look forward to the discussions with the CEO of Anglicare to understand and improve the performance in that area.
