The Allan Labor Government is failing to deliver the social housing homes it promised and is implementing policy that is driving rental providers from the market, culminating in a massively ballooning social housing waiting list and increased homelessness.

The latest Victorian Housing Register update has revealed the waiting list for a home in Victoria has reached a new record high of 66,881.

Gippsland East Nationals’ MP, Tim Bull, said it is little wonder we are at a crisis point in housing.

“In East Gippsland, Wellington and Latrobe, there are currently 3,785 social housing residences. Back in 2017, there were 3,792. That’s a reduction of seven homes over eight years, despite strong population growth. These are the Department’s own figures,” Mr Bull said.

“Meanwhile, Premier Jacinta Allan has hit rental providers with new taxes, including the Emergency Services and Volunteers Levy, and by lowering the land tax threshold to capture even more property owners.

“The fallout is predictable, and one of three things happens: (1) the new taxes are passed on to renters who pay more, (2) renters can’t afford the increases and are evicted or (3) the rental provider sells up and invests interstate or in the stock market, resulting in tenants losing their home.

“This is the reality, and it has seen a 13.5 per cent reduction in private rental properties in Victoria.

“Most rental providers aren’t wealthy investors. They’re everyday people like nurses, teachers and sales staff with a single property.

“The State Government seems to think they are all wealthy and that is not the case, it is simply that they are investing in the housing market,” he said.

“Local Upper House MP, Harriet Shing, has overseen this disaster and needs to take the responsibility. She continually talks about ‘new social housing homes’ and while we have had new homes built, older social housing stock has either been sold off or bulldozed at a greater rate.

“How else do you end up with seven fewer social housing homes than we had eight years ago? This is a question Ms Shing refuses to answer.

“The massive increase we are seeing in the social housing waiting list, the people under rental stress and the increasing number of homeless has been significantly contributed to by government policy.

“Victoria now has more people per capita experiencing homelessness than New South Wales, Queensland or Western Australia. NSW has a social housing home for every 1.8 per cent of its population, while Victoria sits at just 1.2 per cent.

“Instead of encouraging private investment in rentals, the Labor Government is taxing rental providers into oblivion,” Mr Bull said.

Monday, 13 October  2025