Public housing in crisis

Properties empty with homelessness set to deepen

THOUSANDS of local residents are desperately waiting to be placed in public housing while more than 100 stateowned properties stand vacant.

Advocates warn the region’s homelessness crisis is a “critical issue” only exacerbated by the economic fallout from coronavirus.

There are 3657 state-owned public houses in the Barwon region but 133 of them are vacant due to reasons such as maintenance, eviction or tenant abandonment.

The state government said 64 of the vacant properties were undergoing vacated maintenance repairs and would be tenanted when completed, while the other 69 empty homes have been earmarked for redevelopment.

Many are expected to be redeveloped under the Building New Homes to Fight Homelessness program.

The City of Greater Geelong social housing strategy says the region has a current shortfall of 7200 social housing dwellings, with 2699 people on Department of Health and Human Services Barwon region’s public housing waitlist.

More than 1600 of those are listed as priority clients.

G21 chief executive Elaine Carbines said the region’s social housing shortfall was a “critical issue” that would continue to grow.

“It’s concerning to know that there are so many social housing units that are empty at the moment or that are awaiting redevelopment,” she said.

“I urge all parties, including the government, that those more than 100 empty dwellings are needed and are needed now.”

Ms Carbines said around 6400 households were living in private rentals where they were paying in excess of 30 per cent of their income in rent, often more than 50 per cent.

Give Where You Live’s Bill Mithen said there should “absolutely” be shorter wait times for residents seeking public housing.

“Wait lists should be shorter, wait times should be smaller. That is well recognised,” he said.

Council to Homeless Persons chief executive Jenny Smith said while she hoped to see properties re-tenanted quickly, the region’s public housing vacancy rate of around 3 per cent was relatively low.

But Ms Smith said Victoria’s spending on social housing was the lowest of any state or territory, and less than 60 per cent of the national average.

“It is very frustrating to see damaged properties not being quickly repaired and brought back into use,” she said.

“This is symptomatic of a bigger problem of underspending on social housing maintenance, which we anticipate will be remedied for now by the Victorian government’s recent commitment to $500m for social housing maintenance and renovations.” Ms Smith said COVID-19-linked job losses, rising domestic violence and income support cuts in September would create a further surge in demand for homelessness support and housing.

“Across the state, Victoria needs at least an additional 6000 new social properties per year for 10 years,” she said.

A spokeswoman for Housing Minister Richard Wynne said the state government’s $2.6bn program to address homelessness would help ensure everyone had access to safe accommodation.