Unprecedented investment to increasing housing supply

Instead of banding together once again and playing politics with such a serious issue, Labor and the Greens should support our plan for housing which is delivering more homes for Tasmanians faster than ever before.

In relation to all the cases raised by the

Opposition in State Parliament today, Housing Connect is working with the individuals and will continue to offer them a range of supports and assistance.

The Opposition knows this, and Housing Connect will continue working with the individuals to assist them with their housing needs.

The Liberal Government understands that as a result of COVID-19, it has been an incredibly difficult year for Tasmanians.

The best way to combat an increase in housing demand is to increase supply, and that’s exactly what we are doing by investing a record $300 million for housing and homelessness initiatives.

These are the facts;

*1500 new homes for social housing will be delivered over the three years to the end of June 2023 which includes more than 400 in the next 12 months;

*More than $3.3 million has been paid to tenants and landlords experiencing hardship as a result of COVID-19, and as at 19 February 2021 over 93% of rent arrears listed by owners or their agents upon applying to the COVID-19 Landlord Support Fund have been entirely resolved;

*As of March 1 2020, the Residential Tenancy Commissioner was considering just five applications for unreasonable rent increases, following the expiry of the emergency period on 31 January, 2021;

*Dwelling approvals rose a remarkable 66.5 per cent in December 2020, the largest months increase in Australia, and more than 6 times national growth.

It is completely false for the Opposition to say only five social houses were delivered last year, when in fact the Report on Government Services shows that there was a net increase of 252 social houses between June 2019 and June 2020.

The Government’s total investment in social housing increased by 24.2 per cent in the 2019-20 financial year.

Labor and the Greens need to stop willfully misrepresenting this issue, and instead educate themselves on the facts.