PUBLIC HOUSING — NUMBER
343. Mr V.A. CATANIA to the Minister for Community Services:
I
refer to an answer to a question asked in the Legislative Council on 17 June
highlighting that there are now 1 372
fewer public houses in Western Australia compared with when Labor came to
power. Can the minister confirm that selling off public housing has had
a terrible impact on vulnerable Western Australians, including 56 homeless
people who sadly died on the streets of Perth this year?
Point of Order
Mr D.A.
TEMPLEMAN: The preface to that question relates to responsibilities
under the Minister for Housing, not the Minister for Community Services. I seek
some clarification.
The
SPEAKER: Under the standing orders you are required to ask questions
of the relevant minister.
Mr V.A.
CATANIA: It is a question in regard to the homeless.
The SPEAKER: Would you like
to rephrase your question, then?
Questions without Notice Resumed
Mr V.A. CATANIA: I refer to a
question asked in the Legislative Council on 17 June that relates to 1 372
fewer public houses in Western Australia compared with the number when Labor
came to power. I ask the minister, as the minister with responsibility for the
homeless, whether she can confirm that selling off public housing has had a terrible
impact on vulnerable Western Australians, including the 56 homeless people who
sadly died on the streets of Perth this year?
Ms S.F.
McGURK replied:
If the member for North West Central
had listened to the answer I gave previously when we talked about the local government fund that the government announced this
Homelessness Week 2021, I made the point that homelessness is a problem that bedevils communities around the
world, and is a difficult issue. Those people who are street present in particular, often have very complex problems
that are not easily resolved. In fact, the attention that this government
has put in place since coming to office in 2017 into not only extra financial
resources but also the strategic work that draws on evidence is something we
certainly did not see from the last government, including the previous Liberal–National
government that the member for North West Central was part of. The previous
Liberal–National government paid absolutely no attention at all to the
problem of homelessness; in fact, members in that government wanted to sell off
public housing units in their electorates and to turn the sprinklers on to
people who were sheltering in streets in the
city such as King Street and the like. That was the sort of approach that we
saw from the previous government.
Since
coming to government in 2017, we have taken the time to develop what the sector
calls a world-class strategy. We are drawing on the best evidence to
know how we can support those people who are homeless. We have put significant
new resources, including the announcement of two Common Ground facilities, and
we are now rolling out the Housing First approach in the metropolitan area,
Geraldton, Bunbury, Rockingham and Mandurah. We have embarked on some real-time
data collection on people on the street through the By-Name List, where we use service providers to go out and count the number
of people who are street present so we can start to understand both
identified and de-identified data on how we best track them. In fact, the
latest figures in the Perth and Fremantle areas show a reduction in the number
of people who are street present, but we are exercising cautious optimism
around this because it is very early days. We have shown an unprecedented
amount of focus, an evidence-based response and new money that we are putting
into addressing homelessness.
If
we think that building more public housing is the only solution to
homelessness, we are in trouble. We need system reform. We need to draw
on evidence for how to make sure we have the right sort of accommodation as
well as supports, and we need to work with existing service providers and what
they can do so that all of us in partnership are in the best position to
support those very challenging issues.
The SPEAKER: We will take a supplementary
question and that will be the last question for question time.