Thursday, 20 March 2025

 Harriet SHING (Eastern Victoria – Minister for the Suburban Rail Loop, Minister for Housing and Building, Minister for Development Victoria and Precincts) (12:29): The Allan Labor government believes that every Victorian deserves access to a safe, stable home in a place where they want to live, and I have said that many times before. We are pulling every lever that is available to us to build more social and affordable housing for the Victorians who need it most.

Recently I visited Shepparton and Wangaratta to see some of the new homes we have delivered and to speak with people like Jeffrey and Belinda. Both of these people were impacted by the October 2022 floods and spoke about what a massive difference having safe access to homes that are stable has had on their lives. That stability was made possible thanks to homes delivered in partnership with Beyond Housing and funded through our flood recovery program. Not far from Jeffrey and Belinda I visited another block in Shepparton where construction was about to begin on a new $10.3 million supportive housing complex, which will provide 15 brand new homes for people who have experienced homelessness along with the support that they need, that wraparound support, to help them to stay housed.

Earlier that day I joined the Treasurer on a hot Wangaratta morning, alongside so many members of the local community, to open another 44 new social housing homes in partnership with the good people at Uniting Vic.Tas. This means that we have transformed, through a $13.5 million investment from our Social Housing Growth Fund, 16 ageing properties that were no longer fit for purpose into 44 modern, energy-efficient homes close to jobs, schools and services. These are homes that people are proud to live in. Perhaps more importantly, 75 per cent of these homes are set aside for priority applicants on the social housing waitlist, with a particular focus on families and people with disability.

It is the experiences of people like Jeffrey and Belinda that really do speak to the importance and the impact of our investment into social housing. We are also looking forward to continuing our partnership with the Commonwealth – unless Peter Dutton gets into the Lodge, in which case he will scrap the Housing Australia Future Fund. Shame on him.