Thursday, 30 November 2023

Bendigo housing

Gaelle BROAD (Northern Victoria) (12:08): (384) My question is to the Minister for Housing. A tragedy is happening in Bendigo for a mother and her four children, two of whom have autism, one non-verbal. They have been given notice to vacate their rental home because it is being sold. She has unsuccessfully applied for 320 rental homes. The family needs to stay in the Bendigo area, as one of her children attends a specialist school and they depend on local health services. This mother is concerned she may need to put her children in care if she cannot find a house to rent. Can the minister please assist this family to find a home in the Bendigo region before this family is torn apart?

Harriet SHING (Eastern Victoria – Minister for Housing, Minister for Water, Minister for Equality) (12:08): Thank you, Mrs Broad, for that question. It is a question of significance not just for this family but also for so many families around the state who are facing real challenges around rental affordability. We know that some of those issues come about because of an increased cost of living. There are also challenges arising from a range of other factors, and every year we support at least 100,000 ‍people with programs and services around homelessness and around rough sleeping. We are doing an awful lot of work within the social housing space as well and adjacent to that within crisis accommodation and supports.

Without having additional detail about the example that you have provided, it is difficult for me to be able to provide assistance now on my feet. I am, however, very happy to look into this matter to see what can be done to assist the person who you have raised in your question and her circumstances and those of her kids. Proximity to school and to education is of particular importance, and that importance is only augmented when we know that kids have particular needs, including for neurodivergent kids who rely upon routine and on established relationships in order to be able to continue to attend and to make progress in an educational setting. I am very happy to take some further details from you and to look into that matter, as I am also really very available to do the same for any other member who may have particular questions or concerns, particularly as we head into the festive season and particularly as we have peaks in holiday demand for housing in rural and regional Victoria and in various coastal areas where available rental stock is also already in short supply. Let me see what I can do to find some further answers and, if those connections are not already established, to link this person up with the services and with supports that are available through a range of different service providers.

Gaelle BROAD (Northern Victoria) (12:11): Thank you, Minister. I appreciate that, and she has given me permission to pass on the details. In February this year the government announced that work was starting on building a village at Flora Hill to accommodate 1600 people. The government cancelled this tender soon after cancelling the Commonwealth Games and has since committed to building 1300 social and affordable homes in regional Victoria, including Bendigo. Can the minister inform the Bendigo community when these homes will be completed and those desperate for housing will be able to start moving in?

The PRESIDENT: I respect the seriousness of the topic, but I am concerned the question is not supplementary to what was asked in the substantive question. The minister can answer as she sees fit.

Harriet SHING (Eastern Victoria – Minister for Housing, Minister for Water, Minister for Equality) (12:12): Thank you for that supplementary question, noting that again I do not want to create a link between the substantive question, where it does not relate to social and affordable housing or where it may not relate, and the supplementary question, which is centred around social and affordable housing. That is just an important distinction to make. Again, I will look into that matter you have raised. The Big Housing Build, which already has a $1.25 billion allocation, has been added to with that $1 billion commitment as part of the regional package, which is to bring at least 1300 additional homes to rural and regional Victoria. There is ongoing work happening not just on those sites that were identified across Ballarat, Bendigo, Geelong and Morwell but on worker accommodation as well, which is part of the $150 million fund administered under Regional Development Victoria. I am very happy to provide you with information and with updates on the work associated with that work and, again, what this looks like more broadly as accommodation goes immediately to its final locations.