SOCIAL HOUSING — REGIONS
512. Hon WILSON TUCKER to the Leader of the House
representing the Minister for Housing:
I refer the minister to the social
housing economic recovery package and to an article published on 9 August in
The Australian Financial Review, titled ''Census 2021 to track
COVID-19 sea change''. The article reports that the Australian Bureau of
Statistics expects population growth in coastal and regional areas and says, ''We
have seen quite a significant trend in people moving out of capital cities in
the last year''.
(1) Of the $319
million appropriated for the SHERP program, how much has been allocated to
regional Western Australia?
(2) Given the
expected increase in regional populations and the current housing shortages in
regional centres, will the government commit to increasing funding for housing
projects in regional Western Australia?
Hon SUE
ELLERY replied:
I thank the honourable member for
some notice of the question.
(1)–(2) The
McGowan government is investing nearly $1 billion in social housing through a number
of programs that include the social housing
economic recovery package and the Housing and Homelessness Investment Package. Through these programs we will deliver
hundreds of new social housing properties and carry out refurbishment
and maintenance work on thousands more, including in the regions. The
maintenance and refurbishment program will
be critical to ensuring that these homes remain part of our state's
social housing stock for many years to come.
Nearly
$147 million—46 per cent—of the $319 million SHERP budget has
been allocated to social housing new builds, refurbishments and
maintenance works across regional Western Australia. Future funding
requirements for the regions above and beyond this significant investment will
be considered with other priorities as part of the upcoming budget process.