Victoria falls behind on social housing

VICTORIA has the lowest percentage of social housing in the country, according to a recent report from the Productivity Commission.

Released last week, the report on government services revealed public and community housing make up just 2.8 per cent of the state’s housing supply.

Queensland, at 3.5 per cent, has the second lowest proportion of social housing, while South Australia, Tasmania and the ACT each sit at or above 6 per cent.

The national average is 4.1 per cent.

Victoria’s social housing supply has been slowly declining since 2014 when the state’s public and community housing supply sat at 3.5 per cent.

Across the state there are more than 120,000 people on the waiting list for public housing.

According to the latest Victorian Housing Register data, demand remains high in the region with more than 785 households on a waitlist for public housing on the Surf Coast, 1,623 for the Bellarine Peninsula and 7,790 across Geelong.

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Council to Homeless Persons chief executive Deborah Di Natale said the state government’s housing commitment of 80,000 private developments each year for a decade needs to be matched with a guarantee for some public and community housing.

“That seems to have been forgotten,” Di Natale said.

“Victoria has the lowest proportion of public and community housing at the same time as the rental crisis is pushing more people into homelessness.

“The Big Housing Build has helped moved thousands of Victorians out of homelessness, and into safe homes. But we need a Big Housing Build every 18 months if we’re going to get the state off the bottom of the table on public and community housing.

“Concerningly, there’s been no announcement about the future of new public and community housing once the Big Housing Build stops funding new projects from the end of June.

The Productivity Commission’s report follows a state inquiry into Victoria’s rental and housing affordability crisis, which called on the government to increase the number of public homes across the state by 60,000.

It was recommended the government commit to building these dwellings by 2034, with at least 40,000 completed by 2028.