Cassy O'Connor MP | Greens Leader
The latest Human Services Dashboard figures reveal Tasmania’s housing crisis is deepening.
The Liberals have never priotised public housing. Instead, they’ve paid lip service to the plight of thousands of Tasmanians who are on the Housing Register waiting list.
The latest update shows there are now 3,594 Tasmanians on the Housing Register waiting list, a figure that has steadily grown under the Liberals after a Greens’ Minister had it at its lowest level in a decade.
Perhaps more concerning is the fact it is now taking 63.7 weeks to house priority applicants – a massive 27% jump in 2020 alone.
Despite these worsening figures, the Gutwein Government continues to drag its heels on housing supply. It seems to have little interest in providing real solutions for Tasmanians who desperately need affordable housing.
Not only are they failing to deliver enough new homes, they’re refusing to tackle the other underlying causes of the housing crisis, like regulating short stay accommodation.
One of the few positive side effects of COVID-19 was that it gave us the chance for a fresh start for housing in Tasmania. It gave us the chance to fix a huge social problem through a housing-led recovery.
Regrettably, it seems the Liberals are squandering this opportunity, and are leading us towards a housing crisis worse than ever before.