GOVERNMENT REGIONAL OFFICERS' HOUSING
208. Mr R.S. LOVE to the Minister for Housing:
I note that 723 Government Regional Officers' Housing
properties were empty in November 2021—one in seven were lying vacant
amid a housing crisis. Why is this acceptable to this government, and what is
the minister doing to streamline Government Regional Officers' Housing
to ensure that every available property is being used?
Mr J.N. CAREY
replied:
I thank the member for his question.
Our government invests around $200 million across the state
in Government Regional Officers' Housing, and that is both spot purchasing, new builds and
refurbishing properties to bring them back online. One of the issues that we
face—I have been on the public record about this already—is
that we have significant ageing stock. I am looking at every opportunity to
bring that stock back online. There are two things. First, in the most recent
budget, we announced $12.8 million to assess
around 10 000 ageing properties, so that we can plan how to bring them back or
extend their life for future housing. The
second thing I am doing is looking at vacant GROH properties—those that
are not required. The first false premise in the Deputy Leader of the
Opposition's question is the lack of recognition that vacant housing
has been allocated to agencies to be filled. The idea that all those houses are
simply sitting idle and are not going to be used is false. Anyone who
understands the GROH management system realises that we allocate housing to
different agencies that they hold for recruitment. As the Minister for Housing,
I have already requested a review of
existing GROH stock and the stock that is surplus to needs will be brought back
either for social housing or local
governments. An example is Derby where there was surplus GROH stock. We
identified that out of 15 homes, many of them could be used for the
local government and the remainder for social housing. It is already underway.
My agency and I are going through this. I have outlined this previously in this
Parliament.