‘A perfect storm’ with no housing relief in sight

By Bianca Hall

May 26, 2023

Raising the alarm: Celia Adams is chief executive of BeyondHousing, which is the Ovens and Goulburn Murray region’s largest community housing organisation and homelessness support agency. Photo by John Russell

There appears to be no relief in the state budget for regional Victorians in housing crisis, particularly for those displaced due to the October 2022 floods, BeyondHousing chief executive Celia Adams says.

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There are currently more than 6000 applicants on the social housing waitlist across the Ovens and Goulburn Murray regions, which includes the major centres of Seymour, Shepparton, Benalla, Wangaratta and Wodonga.

“This is nearly double the number of people on the Victorian Social Housing register waitlist in March last year,” Ms Adams said.

“It’s disappointing there was no new government investment for housing for the areas impacted by the floods.”

Wait times are also expected to blow out to 16.5 months, even for those on the priority list, like women and children escaping family violence, those who are homeless, and people with a disability.

She echoed the frustration of the state’s peak housing and homelessness bodies, that there was no commitment to a plan for a future pipeline of social housing beyond the $5.3 billion Big Housing Build.

“Without more social housing supply over the next decade, we will see more people in housing crisis and become homeless,” she said.

Ms Adams said that in her more-than 20 years working in the social housing and homelessness sector she had never seen the housing market in such a dire state.

“The rising cost of living, high inflation, rising mortgage rates, low vacancy rates, and record rents have created a perfect storm significantly impacting on the lives of the most vulnerable Victorians and those on low-to-moderate incomes,” she said.

Although BeyondHousing has secured $30 million in Big Housing Build funding to construct more than 140 homes, Ms Adams said this was “not nearly enough” to meet the growing demand for safe, secure, affordable housing.

While acknowledging the pressure on the state government to pay down debt through its COVID Debt Repayment Plan, Ms Adams said the 2023 budget was a missed opportunity to invest in the future prosperity of the state and lay the foundations for greater economic participation through employment, education and improved health.

The budget did however deliver an extra $134 million over the next four years to provide access to targeted housing, homelessness and support programs, including $67.6 million to continue the delivery of the Homelessness to a Home program for rough sleepers.

“We welcome the ongoing funding for homelessness support services like ours, however we need a commitment to build more social housing to end homelessness,” Ms Adams said.