Tuesday, 4 March 2025

Housing

Sarah MANSFIELD (Western Victoria) (18:46): (1456) My adjournment is for the Minister for Housing and Building, and the action I am seeking is a commitment to building 5898 new homes to meet the needs of people currently on the social housing waiting list experiencing homelessness or rental stress and living in transitional housing in the G21 region. Transitional housing provides a roof over the heads of those that need it the most and can be a refuge for people experiencing homelessness or fleeing family violence – a safe place, though temporary, for community members to access services, receive support and look for more stable housing arrangements. But with the housing market as it is now and with rental prices skyrocketing among other cost-of-living pressures, low-income earners and particularly those in transitional housing will be the ones who miss out.

We recently heard from a constituent in Colac who has been experiencing homelessness and is now being moved from transitional housing, even though they have been actively looking for private rentals with support from their dedicated social worker. During their time using this service they have been able to spend what little money they have on some furniture, kitchen items, clothing and other household goods that you and I would take for granted. As a low-income earner this constituent simply cannot afford to enter the private rental market. They are one of thousands of Victorians on the social housing register. When they are removed from transitional housing they will have nowhere to go.

In the G21 Colac Otway Shire housing plan for 2021 to 2024 Colac was identified as having the highest proportion of the very low income band; it is an area of great concern, among others in the region. Despite this the area was not given a guaranteed minimum spend for housing in the Victorian government’s Big Housing Build. Homes Victoria’s latest figures show that there were more than 63,803 applications waiting for public and community housing at the end of September. In regional and rural communities with less access to already strained services, the waitlists remain far too long.

Housing stress over time directly affects the health and wellbeing of household members through any combination of poor diet, limited social connections, anxiety and depression and reduced access to services, including health services. In what can only be deemed a profound injustice, for many women and children the inability to afford stable housing can mean remaining in or returning to domestic violence. For some, housing is a matter of life or death. We urgently need the government to commit to seeking and developing opportunities to close the gap between current levels of public and community housing and the demand to house those people who are homeless in addition to those people in severe rental stress and those in transitional housing.