Thursday, 9 March 2023

Social housing

Trung LUU (Western Metropolitan) (19:35): (105) My adjournment matter is for the Minister for Housing. The action I seek is for the Andrews Labor government to allocate appropriate funds for emergency housing in the west to accommodate the shortfall on the social housing waiting list. Could the minister please enlighten us on the significant problem where the lack of housing has reached an all-time high, as we are experiencing an increase in homelessness and continue to experience it in the west. Rental vacancies are at their lowest ever, and rents are so high that 50 per cent of renters in the west are under financial stress. No house in the west is affordable for someone on Newstart or youth allowance. Currently, there are 14,000 social housing properties in the west but 17,000 people are on the waiting list. This is a large shortfall, and this number continues to grow. Melton and Wyndham Vale, which are in my electorate, are growing faster than anywhere else in Melbourne. Nearly one-quarter of people experiencing homelessness in Victoria are in Melbourne’s west. Statistics show that in 2021–22 homelessness services in Melbourne’s west assisted nearly 20,000 people. Nearly half of those seeking assistance have experienced family violence.

Minister, housing is a basic human right. There is an overwhelming amount of vacant government land just sitting idle. This could be easily used to build affordable housing. So could the government please stop ignoring the situation we are in. We are in the depths of a crisis. People are sleeping rough, and there seems to be no end in sight. Minister, the action I am seeking is not unreasonable, so could the Andrews Labor please allocate funds for emergency housing in the west to accommodate the shortfall on the waiting list and provide what is basically a human necessity.