Public houses under used

MORE than one in 10 Tasmanian public and community housing properties are underutilised, new figures show, as waiting lists continue to grow.

The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare’s Housing Assistance in Australia 2017 report provides a snapshot of public housing across the country.

Tasmania-specific data includes: AN under-utilisation rate of 14.8 per cent for public housing and 15.4 per cent for housing managed by the community sector. LESS overcrowded public housing properties than all other states apart from South Australia, with an overcrowding rate of 3.9 per cent. THERE are 13,541 social housing dwellings in Tasmania including 7166 public housing properties, 223 indigenous housing properties and 6076 mainstream community housing properties. THERE are 6020 Tasmanian households receiving private rent assistance.

A spokeswoman for the State Government said the number of three-bedroom homes in the affordable housing portfolio was a contributing factor in the underutilisation rate.

“The key reason for the anomaly in under-utilisation figures is several, predominantly three-bedroom, properties were transferred to community housing providers.

“A key reason for this was due to individual long-term tenants now living in the houses due to their family growing up and moving out,” she said.

The latest Department of Health and Human Services performance data shows there were 3821 people on the public housing waiting list in March — an increase of about 1000 in two years.

The average time to house priority applicants stands at 43 weeks.

Tasmania’s public housing waiting list has ballooned in recent years, with factors including unprecedented competition for private rentals.

Part of the State Government’s affordable housing strategy has been to transfer the titles of 500 public housing properties to the community sector in return for organisations building more homes.

There are currently 170 affordable homes being built around the state under the scheme.