Lack of action on state housing crisis is cold and unforgivable

EVERYONE should have safe, secure housing but that right is slipping beyond the grasp of thousands. Our state is in an unprecedented housing crisis, particularly in the South but also in the North and North-West. Longand short-term solutions are needed.

Tasmanians caught in the crisis and those watching from the outside are right to believe little is being done. Nothing tangible or workable has been forthcoming from the Liberal Government.

Young Tasmanians are giving up the dream of owning their home, families are living in tenuous arrangements and struggling to pay rent. Others rely on the kindness of family and friends, couch surfing and not knowing from one night to the next where they will sleep.

More than 3500 languish on public housing waiting lists while public housing applications grow.

In March, families trying to get a roof over their heads were being told the wait time was 43 weeks. Today, new applicants are told they must endure wait times of 63 weeks.

Data from property analytics group CoreLogic shows the March 2018 quarter was the strongest first quarter in rental growth for the Hobart region since 2008.

Private rental costs in Hobart grew by 11.7 per cent over the past year but, significantly, skyrocketed by 46.6 per cent over the same period across the South-East.

Two tent cities have appeared in Hobart’s Northern Suburbs, giving a public face to the state of housing. It’s no way to live and no way to create a healthy and stable family environment.

The tent city at the Hobart Showground highlights the enormity of the crisis, particularly in the Northern Suburbs. We now find ourselves questioning the direction in which our communities are heading.

How has it come to a point where obtaining one of the most fundamental necessities and human rights, a roof over your head, has become such a debacle in Tasmania?

How can it be a newly installed government has already demonstrated it lacks the vision, capacity or the compassion to address this?

Housing Minister Roger Jaensch said he had come up with a solution by allocating $500,000 to direct the homeless into cabin and motel accommodation when even he must have realised funding of that level does not even qualify as a Band-Aid.

I continue to speak with and assist people caught up in the housing crisis. I have visited the showgrounds on several occasions and had the chance to accompany Salvation Army Streets2Home staff on their morning rounds.

The Streets2Home program is an invaluable service, monitoring the safety and wellbeing of Tasmanians who are sleeping rough.

The program trains community members so they feel confident to speak up for a person experiencing homelessness.

What can we do to help?

There is no simple solution but it’s crucial this issue is not buried and that a public discussion happens.

Housing and homelessness deserves a sophisticated multipronged approach. Short stay accommodation, in standalone investor property format, is having a significant impact for Tasmanian renters.

In Hobart, one in every 27 homes is now listed on a short stay platform. This is where government can help make a difference. As an immediate interim measure, the Government should pause new approvals for short stay accommodation investment properties in inner city high stress areas.

This would have no impact on existing short-term accommodation businesses.

It’s critical the Government and Roger Jaensch, who also wears the Planning Minister’s cap, look outside the square and explore innovative ways to get people housed. That includes investigating neighbourhood renewal projects.

During the recent state election Labor recognised and committed to the opportunity in the existing Northern Suburbs Rail Corridor. It is an ideal location which, if rezoned to residential land use, would create new communities that are affordable, close to services and close to job opportunities.

Not only would rezoning this corridor lead to more housing stock, it would have flow-on economic benefits to the Northern Suburbs.

I am advocating for a Joint House Parliamentary Inquiry into public and community housing, private housing affordability and residential and tenancy issues. I have written to the Housing Minister offering bipartisanship to investigate the housing affordability and homelessness crisis and to provide a forum for the community to put their statements on the public record.

An inquiry into the issues would also develop an important framework for future policy and budget decisions — and I hope the Government and Mr Jaensch will be paying attention. Elwick MLC Josh Willie is Labor’s spokesman for housing, disability and ageing.