Housing
Evan MULHOLLAND (Northern Metropolitan) (12:24): (544) My question is for the Minister for Housing. Productivity Commission data released yesterday shows that the Labor government’s much-vaunted commitment to social housing is an absolute sham, with the government assisting only 2835 new Victorian households with social housing compared to 2880 in Western Australia. Minister, why has your government only assisted around the same number of new households with social housing as WA despite Victoria having more than double the population?
Harriet SHING (Eastern Victoria – Minister for Housing, Minister for Water, Minister for Equality) (12:24): Thank you, Mr Mulholland, for that question. The Productivity Commission’s data is actually not based on contemporary information. What we have done since that data was released – and I will take you to March 2024 – is reduce the vacancy rate across our housing stock in the public space down to 1.8 per cent. That is less than the private market and private rental vacancy rates in regional Victoria and indeed in metropolitan Melbourne. In the last year we have placed 7000 households into social housing. We are making a record investment that sees more than 9400 homes in planning, construction or completion. We have more than 3500 homes, in gross terms, that have been brought into the system in the last 12 months. We have acquitted around 50 per cent of the Big Housing Build, and we have got an additional $1 billion as part of the regional package, which will deploy at least 1300 new social and affordable homes across the state.
When we look to the work that is being undertaken across the board, we can see that Victoria’s investment is making a significant difference in addressing the housing register numbers, that we are starting to see a downturn in the waitlist and that we are seeing record investment for vulnerable cohorts within the housing space. We know that a record investment of $300 million into maintenance is playing an important role in this work, alongside $18 million for a new maintenance system. We also know that the record investment in housing and homelessness services, including $196 million in this year’s budget, alongside additional support for specific cohorts such as victim-survivors of family violence, is part of a whole-of-system response to provide assistance to those at greatest risk of homelessness or rough sleeping or indeed those people who are accessing social housing under some often extremely difficult circumstances. We also know that it is programs like private rental assistance, which has assisted around 2766 people in the last year, that are making a difference, where we have around 30 per cent of the people accessing homelessness services for the first time coming from the private rental space.
Victoria has invested more than any other jurisdiction, and I am looking forward to seeing those vacancy rates, the turnaround times and the placement times continue to build on the work that we have done. I also note that we have brought down the maintenance backlog by about 80 per cent since 2022. It is now sitting at around 7767, as compared with around 90,000. This is not happening by accident; it is happening because we are allocating resources, we are investing in upgrades, maintenance and repairs and we are making sure that new stock is brought on line. If you are saying, Mr Mulholland, that we should not be replacing old stock with new stock, then I would invite you to see some of the conditions that people deserve better than and from and our investment that is changing this – (Time expired)
Evan MULHOLLAND (Northern Metropolitan) (12:28): Minister, support for vulnerable Victorians has flatlined in your government’s budget, with Victoria’s target for social housing properties lower in 2024–25, as compared to 2023–24. Has the government completely abandoned its big build social housing commitments?
Harriet SHING (Eastern Victoria – Minister for Housing, Minister for Water, Minister for Equality) (12:28): Mr Mulholland, again, if you had only started with a question, it would have been a very short answer, but your preamble does require that I go into some of the detail. A lot of people are doing it tough in the economic climate that we are in at the moment. An increase to rental inflation, alongside successive interest rate increases, has made it very, very difficult for many people in Victoria, around Australia and indeed around the world. The total new applications list, with no transfers, actually reduced by 16 per cent from March 2023 to March 2024. The priority list, with no transfers, reduced by 15 per cent from March 2023 to March 2024, and we are seeing a significant downward shift in the one-bedroom subwaitlist, which is about half of the Victorian Housing Register.
When you ask about what the Big Housing Build is delivering, I can give you these numbers, but ultimately, Mr Mulholland, this is about people who are able to move into social housing, who are having their needs better met – not perfectly met, but better met – because of our investment, and that work goes on.