And so to him, our ask is simple: Help.

Hundreds of Tasmanians slept rough last night. Thousands more, including many families with kids, are meanwhile stuck on waiting lists for public housing that is yet to be built.

Today, a man arrives in Tasmania who can do something about it. Federal Housing Minister Michael Sukkar can waive a debt that costs us millions in wasted interest payments.

HOUSING Minister Roger Jaensch says his top priority is to have his federal counterpart today commit to finally wiping Tasmania’s historic housing debt.

Mr Jaensch will this morning sit down with Federal Housing Minister Michael Sukkar to make his case to have the Commonwealth retire the $157 million debt.

The debt — racked up between the 1950s and 1980s when Tasmania borrowed from the Federal Government to boost its social housing supply — eats up about half the annual federal housing grant the state receives every year.

Mr Jaensch said the $15 million lost annually to debt repayment was equal to having about 50 new Housing Tasmania properties built each year.

The Braddon Liberal MHA discussed the debt with Mr Sukkar over the phone at the weekend and will restate his case today.

“We’ve kept on restating our strong preference, our top priority, being retiring this debt so we can direct more Tasmanian dollars to building more houses,” Mr Jaensch told the Mercury.

“We should be spending our money on houses for Tasmanians, not payments to Canberra.

“They’re not telling us to go away, the Minister’s listening, and I think he’s really keen to help.”

Shelter Tasmania has long pushed for the Commonwealth to retire Tasmania’s housing debt, and yesterday again urged action from the Federal Government.

Executive officer Pattie Chugg said: “Shelter Tas, on behalf of the housing and homelessness sector and all Tasmanians, repeats its call for the state and federal housing ministers to work together to remove the historic housing debt burden from Housing Tasmania to free up much-needed resources for affordable homes for those in need.

“We hope to hear a positive announcement from Minister Sukkar.”

Tasmanian Council of Social Service chief executive Kym Goodes echoed Ms Chugg’s plea.

“With the Federal Housing Minister in Hobart [today], the focus needs to turn to longer-term solutions that will be enabled if the housing debt can be addressed,” she said.

Mr Sukkar was contacted for comment yesterday afternoon.

Tasmanian Liberal senator Eric Abetz said earlier this week that forgiving Tasmania’s debt would be akin to “rewarding bad behaviour”, dampening hopes of good news from the Coalition.

Mr Jaensch said Senator Abetz’s comments had made him angry.

“It’s been our state’s stated position for a long time that we want this debt retired, and we’re in a period of real pressure,” Mr Jaensch said.

“Every bit will count towards that. If we can stop spending Tasmanian money on Commonwealth debt and spend it instead on houses for Tasmanians, that’s what we should be doing.”

We should be spending our money on houses for Tasmanians, not payments to Canberra. — ROGER JAENSCH