It has now been confirmed by the Labor State Government that in the midst of a housing crisis, East Gippsland Shire has four less social housing homes than when it came to government nearly 10 years ago.

Housing Minister, Harriet Shing, whose Upper House electorate covers East Gippsland, confirmed in a signed response to a question from Gippsland East Nationals MP, Tim Bull, that the figures in the department annual report were correct – showing that there were 931 social housing dwellings in the East Gippsland on June 2023, two less than June 2017, where there were 933 social housing dwellings.

“The reality of it is, we have less homes in many local government areas across the state, including Gippsland. There are less social housing homes in Wellington Shire Council and significantly less in the Latrobe Valley,” said Mr Bull

“In the midst of significant population increase and a housing crisis worsened by Labor pushing landlords from the rental market, we have two less social housing homes in East Gippsland than we had in Labor’s first term.

“This government spruiks about its so-called Big Housing Build, but it is irrelevant how many homes you build if at the same time you are demolishing or selling off a greater number, resulting in a net loss. That is what has occurred here.

“Whenever she is publicly questioned on this, Ms Shing wants to talk about what the Liberals and Nationals did in Government to deflect from her failure to have supported her own electorate.
Even then, the answer to her question is, we had a public housing waiting list around half of what it is now. It has exploded to 61,587 under her watch.

“It is not a Big Housing Build at all, it is more a big housing con,” said Mr Bull.

“The government has led people to believe these new homes are all additional homes boosting social housing numbers - but they are not.

“In addition to having less homes, when you look at the net amount of bedrooms, it is an even worse outcome.

“The homes that are being sold off or demolished around the region are in some cases 3-4 bedroom homes and they are being replaced by one and two bedroom dwellings, so apart from the reduction in homes, we’ve lost a significant number of bedrooms also,” said Mr Bull.

Monday, 28 October 2024