PUBLIC HOUSING —
HOMELESSNESS
382. Dr D.J. HONEY to the Minister for Housing:
Before I commence my question, I welcome
into the gallery today Tania Hansen and her mother, Patsy. Tania and her five
children are facing eviction from a private rental next week and they have
nowhere to go. I also welcome Michelle and Jodie Garlett, the sisters of Alana
Garlett who tragically died homeless in Perth in June. I offer my sincere condolences
to Michelle and Jodie and their family.
I refer to estimates by Shelter WA
that over 9 000 Western Australians will experience homelessness each night and
the tragic death of 56 of these people this year.
(1) Why has this government sold
more than 1 300 public houses since 2017?
(2) Is the minister aware that WA
has the worst record in the nation for public housing stock?
Mr J.N.
CAREY replied:
(1)–(2) I thank the member for his question. Public
housing is a key priority for this government, and we are making a serious commitment with nearly $1 billion in
both social housing refurbishment and new building of public homes, and also homelessness initiatives. Only
last week, we saw announcements relating to two initiatives. The first
was the medical respite centre, which is about addressing that particular gap
of rough sleepers coming out of the hospital system. That is only, I must
declare, a few minutes from my home. The second, which I am very proud of, is
the 100-bed facility within the city operated by an Aboriginal-controlled organisation that is about providing that
transitional approach, that first stop, to help get rough sleepers off our streets. We invest nearly $100 million a year
in homelessness programs, shaped around the Housing First approach. That
is an approach we did not see in the ad hoc nature of the previous government.
We are seeing a very strategic evidence-based approach that is about ending
rough sleeping. I also want to put this on the record and I have been very
clear before: we have made some difficult decisions regarding the nature of public housing. We do not want to see
high concentrations of public housing that can have impacts on social
behaviour. Some tough decisions were made; for example, we lost 300 public
houses as a result of our decisions, but they were the right decisions. Now we
have a very clear program in place and nearly $1 billion in investment in
social housing, public housing and homelessness initiatives.