- Each month last year saw over 3,000 on the register
- Processing time decreased last quarter by about 10 weeks
- Government says it is building an additional 1500 public houses
The Tasmanian Government has today released its Human Services Dashboard for the December 2020 quarter, which has revealed it is taking over a year to house those on the priority social housing register.
The dashboard aims to provide timely and transparent information on the system which the Government says ensures accountability and openness.
The data reveals that at the end of every month in 2020 there were between 3,346 and 3,813 applications.
In terms of the amount of time to house priority applicants, it has decreased from 63.7 weeks during the September quarter to 53.9 weeks for December 2020. Despite this relatively large decrease, it is still far above the levels seen in the June and March 2020 quarters, which were 48.4 and 50.2 weeks respectively.
72 applications were housed from the Housing Register into social housing during December, the same as November. Like 2020 itself, this figure varied wildly reaching a low of just 39 applications in October to 2020 in May 2020.
125 households were assisted into Housing Connect’s Private Rental Assistance program, one less than November.
Roger Jaensch, the Minister for Housing, acknowledged the demand for public houses was increasing but remarked the Tasmanian Government is rapidly increasing levels of stock.
“The data shows that while the demand for social housing has continued to increase, applicants are being housed sooner, with the average time to house priority social housing applicants decreasing by 10 weeks over the quarter.”
“As an additional measure, today I can announce that we will fund another 50 rapid rehousing properties in areas of high demand statewide, including regional areas.”
Roger Jaensch, the Minister for Housing
Mr Jaensch made the remarks while visiting recently built public houses in Glenorchy, near Hobart. The new houses are part of a program to build 1500 additional public houses by June 2023.
However, as previously reported by The Property Tribune, Professor Keith Jacobs from the University of Tasmania said the Government is not doing enough to address the shortage of public houses across the State.
“The Tasmanian Government’s policy on housing affordability is strong on publicity but not adequate to address the shortfall of public housing.”
Professor Keith Jacobs, University of Tasmania
