Legislative Council, Thursday 25 August 2022

Ms FORREST question to LEADER of the GOVERNMENT in the LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL, Mrs HISCUTT

With regard to the Government’s policies around access to affordable and accessible housing:

1 How many houses have been constructed in each North West Local Government Area in the last five years for social housing reported by:
• The town the home has been built; and
• The number of properties in each that are suitable for residents with disability, including the availability of hoists.

2 The number of houses to be constructed in each North West Local Government Area in the last financial year for social housing reported by:
• The town the home has been built; and
• The number of properties in each that are suitable for residents with disability, including the availability of hoists.

3 The number of houses to be constructed in each North West Local Government Area in the next five (5) years for social housing reported by:
• The town the home has been built; and
• The number of properties in each that are suitable for residents with disability, including the availability of hoists.

General response:

All new social housing dwellings are required to be constructed in accordance with Communities Tasmania’s ‘Design Policy for Social Housing’. The only exceptions to this are where there are site specific limitations, or for target client group reasons, where this is not practicable or appropriate.

Where practical, all new social houses built under this government have adhered to the design policy, which is comparable to Silver Level on the Living Housing Design Guidelines (LHDG).

The policy states that all new homes will be constructed to meet the changing needs of residents across their lifetime, including easy and cost-effective adaptation for the specific needs of people living with disability. The provision of hoists is accounted for within this context, noting that the development of any higher-level disability accommodation is supported through project specific briefing with specialist consultants and allied health professionals.

Responding to the specific questions:
1 There have been 285 new social housing dwellings completed in the North West of Tasmania over the past five years. Of these, 128 (44.9 per cent) have met either Gold Level and above of the LHDG, or the Australian Standards, AS1428 and AS4299. The following table shows which suburbs these new social housing dwellings have been built.

Table 1: New social housing dwellings - past five years by standards and suburb – North West

2 There have been 62 new social housing dwellings completed in the North West of Tasmania over the past 12 months. Of these, 35 (56.5 per cent) have met either Gold Level and above of the LHDG, or the Australian Standards, AS1428 and AS4299.

The following table shows which suburbs these new social housing dwellings have been built.

3 The current pipeline of works offers the details on the houses being constructed over the next 12 to18 months – it does not cover the full five year timeframe as requested as the detail on projects are not specifically locked in this far out. Of the projects that are known, there are 356 new social housing dwellings expected to be built in the North West and these are broken down by expected LGA in table 3 below.

Table 3: Pipeline of new social housing dwellings - by LGA – North West

More broadly, the Tasmanian Government has announced a10 year, $1.5 billion housing package to build on our existing initiatives and deliver even more social and affordable housing.

A new statutory authority will be established to deliver our housing initiatives.

In total, 10,000 new homes will be provided by 2032. We are currently on track to deliver 1,500 new homes by 30 June 2023.