Thursday, 6 February 2025

 Chris CREWTHER (Mornington) (17:27): (997) My adjournment matter is for the Minister for Housing and Building, and I ask the minister to provide an update on the initiatives being taken to tackle the housing crisis, including homelessness in Victoria and the Mornington Peninsula. I was honoured recently to be given the opportunity to serve as the Shadow Assistant Minister for Housing and Rental Affordability, and I look forward to sinking my teeth into this role, particularly because I have been very concerned about the homelessness crisis as well as the housing crisis more generally for so many years, both when I was a federal member of Parliament and now as a state member of Parliament. I know the member for Nepean can attest to the grave need we have not just on the peninsula but across Victoria in this regard.

I want to go into some of the issues with respect to housing. Social housing accounts for only 3 per cent of households in this state, well below the national average of 4 per cent. Victoria has the smallest proportion of social housing in the nation, and indeed there are over 63,000 people on the waiting list, many on the priority waiting list as well, up from around 9000 when we left government in 2014. One-third of Australians seeking homelessness support live in Victoria, and the Council to Homeless Persons highlights that it has 30 per cent more people experiencing housing stress in Victoria compared to New South Wales and Queensland. Per 10,000 people, Victoria currently has the most people experiencing homelessness in the country.

I can attest to this. When I had a former colleague from Kosovo, who came from Nigeria, visit Australia for the first time back in late 2018, I took him to the city on a Sunday, which was his first chance to see the city. The level of homelessness even back then was significant. He was actually quite shocked because he did not see the same thing in Nigeria, nor did he see this in Kosovo. In Kosovo there was an over 40 per cent unemployment rate at the time and no safety net, but you hardly ever saw a homeless person on the street. It does send shockwaves that we have this situation in Victoria and in Australia, particularly when we are a wealthy nation. It does reflect on our government and our society when we have these issues that are not being resolved.

I note that in 2023 the then Premier announced the $6 billion Big Housing Build, which would boost supply by 10 per cent. Yet today there are barely 1600 more social housing dwellings than there were in 2017, so we have a lot more to do in this regard. On the Mornington Peninsula net public housing ‍– and particularly if you count the amount of properties that are vacant or in disrepair – has actually gone backwards since 2014. I note as well that crisis accommodation across Victoria and my electorate is almost non-existent, and this needs to be resolved as well.