Question details

I thank the member for Morwell for his question about vacant public housing properties in Morwell. The Allan Labor Government works hard to minimise vacancy durations and ensure that properties are made tenantable as quickly as possible.

On 22 October 2024, there were two vacant properties in Newark Avenue, Newborough. These properties are in the reletting process.

At the end of each tenancy, properties are assessed and undergo standard vacated maintenance to ready the property for the next occupant and meet requirements set out under the Residential Tenancies Act 1997.

Properties in the reletting process are managed by the Local Housing Office through regular vacated maintenance works and most properties are available for tenanting for applicants from the Victorian Housing Register within 28 days.

Properties can be vacant while works are undertaken and during the process of a new renter moving in, such as while a property is being matched and offered to an applicant on the Victorian Housing Register.

Demand for social housing is driven by a complex interplay of factors, including housing affordability, overall economic conditions, and Commonwealth Government settings, including income support levels. The Victorian Housing Register and waiting times for social housing are an expression of this demand. Waiting times are impacted by a range of factors, including: 

• the delivery of new social housing.
• the rate of exits from existing social housing.  
• the preferences of applicants, such as location or bedroom size preferences, compared with the profile of social housing supply.  
• emergency responses, such as new priority applicants being added to the waitlist in response to floods and bushfires.

We are using all levers within our control to house as many people as quickly as possible. Allocations to social housing increased by 37 per cent in the last two years (7,626 allocations in 2023-24 compared to 5,553 allocations in 2021-22).

We recently announced our delivery plan for more than 1,300 new and upgraded social and affordable homes across regional and rural Victoria through the $1 billion Regional Housing Fund. We have committed to delivering 110 of those homes in Inner Gippsland.

This investment is on top of the $1.25 billion we’re already investing in our regions through the Big Housing Build.

……………………………………………

Hon Harriet Shing MP

Minister for Housing and Building