Thursday, 24 February 2022

Sandringham electorate public housing

Mr ROWSWELL (Sandringham) (17:22): (6244) My adjournment matter is for the Minister for Housing, and the action that I seek is for the minister to confirm a date and time for the briefing that was offered to me by the minister with Ben Rimmer, CEO of Homes Victoria, earlier this year.

Together with members of my community and local council we have been surprised, some may say caught off guard, to read the housing minister’s recent press release about social housing developments within the Sandringham district. Most recently on 15 December 2021, just 10 days before Christmas, the minister announced that there would be a rebuild, an increase of public housing units on Bluff Road in Hampton East. This announcement is on top of another plan to redevelop public housing in Kenneth Street, Sandringham.

From the very outset I want to be clear about my position on public housing. Firstly, the level of unmet demand for public housing in the state is in my view an absolute disgrace, and for a government that says it cares so much for people, why has the waitlist been allowed to balloon out to an unimaginable level on their watch? As of December 2021 there were some 54 587 of our fellow Victorians on the waitlist, and 30 554 of those are considered priority access cases. Secondly, I do not oppose public housing in my community, and this is a view shared by the majority of local residents. I also do not oppose a possible increase in public housing stock in our area so long as the following conditions are met: where there is any proposed increase in public housing stock, there must be an equal increase in services provided to those people in housing, and further, any developments should fit within the character of our area. For example, the proposal to put three dwellings on one block in a street where residents would never have a similar proposal agreed to by council is simply not appropriate. It should be the aspiration of every government, no matter their colour, for people in public housing to be there for as short a time as possible and to support them to get back on their own feet, to be self-sufficient. The worst thing that any government could do is to increase public housing stock while not increasing services to give vulnerable people the support they need, the hand up they need not just the handout. I look forward with great enthusiasm to hearing the minister’s confirmation of a time and date for this very important briefing with Mr Rimmer to discuss these matters that are of ongoing interest and concern to me and to my community.