The Nationals’ Member for Morwell, Martin Cameron, has called on Labor to reveal the true extent of the housing crisis in the Latrobe Valley ahead of Homelessness Week.
Mr Cameron spoke with the Gippsland Homelessness Network as 6000 origami homes were placed on the steps of the Victorian Parliament, highlighting just one tenth of the current public housing waiting list.
“I was inspired to see the commitment from housing workers and advocacy groups at Parliament this week and hear the stories from local staff about how difficult it is for many people to find homes at the moment,” Mr Cameron said.
“Every day my office deals with people who are at their wits’ end, at their most vulnerable, pleading for help because they have nowhere to live.
“There is a dire shortage of all forms of housing, but the Gippsland Homelessness Network revealed there has been a massive 60% reduction in rental properties across Victoria that were considered affordable for households relying on Centrelink payments.”
Data from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare also shows that 2783 people in Latrobe accessed Specialised Homelessness Services (SHS) in the 2022-23 financial year – more than any other regional municipality in Victoria.
“Labor allocated a minimum of $60 million to the Latrobe Valley when its Big Housing Build was announced more than three years ago, but the Latrobe local government area has actually lost 37 public housing properties since 2018**,” Mr Cameron said.
“This is the government’s own data, and beneath all the grandstanding about addressing the housing crisis is the reality that local public housing stocks have reduced.
“This doesn’t even account for the huge number of people and families who are sleeping in their cars, couch surfing, living in motels, or finding temporary respite in overcrowded dwellings.
“Billions are spent on mega city projects like the Suburban Rail Loop to benefit metropolitan Melbourne, but when it comes to providing the bare necessities like housing in regional Victoria, Labor goes missing time and time again.
“We need real action to address the housing crisis in the form of bricks and mortar and we need it now.”
** Department of Families, Fairness and Housing Annual Report 2022-23.
