Housing
Sarah MANSFIELD (Western Victoria) (12:43): (828) My question is for the minister for housing. Minister, in 2020 your government commissioned a review of the social housing sector and then sat on the report for 2½°years before quietly releasing it just days before Christmas last year. The report highlights that the Victorian Housing Registrar, which regulates community housing providers, is not sufficiently equipped to protect tenants or ensure prudent use of public funds. The report’s key recommendation is to establish an independent, fully resourced regulator of public, community and affordable housing. Minister, when do you plan to establish this regulator?
Harriet SHING (Eastern Victoria – Minister for the Suburban Rail Loop, Minister for Housing and Building, Minister for Development Victoria and Precincts) (12:43): You have outlined the basis on which the social housing regulation review final report was issued last year, and this is something that I have discussed on many occasions with people, whether they be community housing providers, community representatives or people across the system, where again we have a really complex process for the interplay between public and community housing, despite that the Residential Tenancies Act applies to both.
As you would be aware, the work of the review panel was about making sure that we could have a good understanding of the things that the system needs to do to remain responsive but also to be effective and consistent and aligned with the various needs and objectives of residents, whether they be in public or in community housing, as part of meeting our obligations under the system as it operates. Of the 44 recommendations that were made in that report, we support either in full, in part or in principle 40 of those recommendations. Three were not supported, and one recommendation that is being deferred is about the very question on the single regulator and the work that needs to be considered in that space. I have had many conversations and discussions within government about how to align the various parts of the system as they relate to the regulation and oversight of community housing on the one hand and public housing on the other. There is regulation that already exists, but there is a recommendation that specifically suggests reforms that are not actually consistent with the broader spectrum of affordable housing and the overall issues that we are dealing with around a lack of certainty of supply, not just in Victoria but also around Australia.
This does not preclude future regulation of government-subsidised affordable housing, but we also want to make sure that we can assist with a clear and uniform approach to regulation. The registrar is one of those areas where I will continue to focus my efforts, but sitting across two portfolios as it does – and this was a change made back, I think, in 2010 – we also need to understand where and how we can make those differences so that in regulation as well as in practice people are getting the uniform outcomes that they want.
Community housing is by no means a perfect system but nor is public housing. What we are doing, however, is making sure that the Residential Tenancies Act as it applies and Dispute Resolution Victoria as it applies are able to assist people, whether through raising maintenance or complaints requests, whether it is about escalating matters for transfer, and also about giving residents opportunities for choice around where and how they want to live and priority areas that they might include as part of an application. There is a long way to go around meeting the needs of communities, particularly as the register continues to grow, but this is where a mix of housing is appropriate. I will continue to work on what that looks like from within government.
Sarah MANSFIELD (Western Victoria) (12:46): I thank the minister for that response. Minister, the report describes mission drift, where instead of social benefits, commercial imperatives become the core focus of affordable housing providers as they compete for government funding and benefits such as tax exemptions and planning incentives. The report recommends that all affordable housing providers receiving government subsidies should have a consistent regulatory framework applied to them outlining minimum terms and conditions for the delivery of affordable housing. Minister, what oversight systems does your government apply to the affordable housing sector to ensure that government subsidies deliver agreed social outcomes?
Harriet SHING (Eastern Victoria – Minister for the Suburban Rail Loop, Minister for Housing and Building, Minister for Development Victoria and Precincts) (12:47): Thank you, Dr Mansfield, for that supplementary question. It does raise the further scope of affordable housing, which goes beyond social housing, just to be clear. There are a couple of different interfaces around the regulation of social housing and affordable housing. Within social housing obviously there is Commonwealth rent assistance and the remittance of that payment back to the community housing provider. Community housing providers are for-purpose not-for-profit organisations which are bound by the terms of the Residential Tenancies Act, as I have just outlined, and there is recourse to remedy under the act for both community housing residents and for public housing residents. In addition to that, affordable housing, which is one of the areas which is defined in the Planning and Environment Act, is part of understanding what ‘affordable’ actually looks like. I have been in constant discussions with the Commonwealth, particularly given we have got variable definitions of ‘affordable housing’. Where there is subsidy, as opposed to it being set below the market rate – then again, we would expect that – the affordable housing that is being delivered is being delivered in accordance with the Residential Tenancies Act. There is a lot of variation in that. I am very happy to talk further with you if you would like given that my time is up.