Community
25 October, 2024
Houses remain dormant amid housing crisis
SOCIAL housing properties across Warrnambool currently lie vacant amid a housing crisis across the state.
Member for South West Coast Roma Britnell this week spoke of her concerns over the number of empty houses sitting dormant at a time when hundreds of people, including families, are struggling to find accommodation.
“Concerned residents across the south west coast have alerted me to vacant public housing in this area,” Ms Britnell said.
“We are in the middle of a housing crisis, where people urgently need a roof over their heads.
“It is cruel to have people waiting on social housing lists when houses sit empty for years on end.”
Ms Britnell claims the crisis has been orchestrated and driven by “appalling project management and out of control waste.”
“The government cannot manage money, it cannot managing housing and now Victorians are paying the price,” she said.
Ms Britnell also added that the state government began its ‘Big Housing Build’ in 2020 with a promise of 12,000 new homes, however the Auditor General reported that as of March 2024, the government had already spent $2.9 billion of its planned $5.6 billion dollars, only to see a net decrease in homes.
“Official figures have confirmed between June 2023 and December 2023 total public housing supply in fact decreased by 446 homes,” Ms Britnell said.
“Then in July this year, the government approved tenders to demolish over 600 homes by September 2025 before it builds new stock. This has led to public housing across the state lying vacant.”
