The
Liberal Government’s lack of action to fix the state’s housing crisis is
continuing to hurt vulnerable Tasmanians.
Close
to 20 Tasmanians living in short and medium-term accommodation at the Hobart
Showgrounds will be evicted tomorrow and forced to move on to even less
suitable housing options.
David
Farnell is one Showgrounds resident facing eviction tomorrow.
He
hasn’t got a house to go to, and has no choice but to move to a campground.
To make
things worse, David has been in and out of hospital, and a campsite away from
easy access to health services is not an acceptable housing solution.
The Government has known for the better
part of a year that the Showgrounds redevelopment was about to commence, and
should have acted sooner. Now they aren’t acting at all.
Hobart Showgrounds management wrote to
the Minister about finding suitable alternative accommodation for these people
twice. The first letter took five months before Minister Barnett responded, and
the second letter has not even garnered an acknowledgement.
The
Liberals continue to sit on their hands when it comes to addressing Tasmania’s
housing crisis.
The latest Housing Dashboard figures show
the government delivered only 17 new housing properties in December 2022.
This is over 80 per cent short of their
monthly target if they want to live up to their promise of building 10,000
homes in a decade.
Last
week it was also revealed that 215 social housing homes across the state sit
empty because they are untenantable.
A Labor Government would not have neglected these people, and importantly we would, as a matter of urgency, fix up these 215 homes so Tasmanians doing it the toughest can find appropriate housing.
Ella Haddad MP
Shadow Housing Minister
