Families searching for rental homes in Hobart label Tasmanian housing summit 'all talk'
Updated
The Tasmanian Government's urgent summit to address a dire housing shortage has left one family at the coalface less than optimistic that help is on the way.
Philip Hogue and his family are living with his mother and terminally ill father in a two-bedroom unit in North Hobart.
After years living in Melbourne without an issue, they recently moved back to Hobart to care for his father.
"It's been quite hard for us as a family. We never expected to stay here for the amount of time we are now," he said.
"We've got money to move out. That's not an issue. We just need to find the right property to move out to."
Watching footage of Premier Will Hodgman speaking after Thursday's housing summit, Mr Hogue was not that impressed.
"He's all about talking about it, but nothing is actually getting done about it," he said.
He wants the State Government to put other issues aside to focus on the increasing difficulty in finding a home — a situation which has seen families sleeping in tents at Hobart's showgrounds.
"We're not quite at that point yet, we have a home to sleep in, but it's not good enough. This is my parents' home, it's not my home."
Many homeless invisible
Gypsy Love has been technically homeless for 15 years, following the fair and show circuit and spending most of her time in Tasmania.
"It's more the issue of the invisible homeless. Shelter Tasmania and Housing Connect, they collect statistics, they know how many they're turning away," she said.
"I see the invisible homeless — the people who never go to a service.
"I would've liked to have seen what money could be thrown at the crisis services.
"It's the immediate, what to do with people immediately, that are going to face gale winds?"
Hobart Show Society president Scott Gadd has found himself as a champion for families camping at the showgrounds in Glenorchy.
"We've still got a fair mix out there. We've got people that are really affected by the supply issue. They've got money, they can pay rent, they can pay bond, but there just isn't a house available," he said.
"I've probably only got a dozen or so or even less now, families and individuals and couples out there.
"But what's become apparent is that's only the tip of the iceberg.
"There are so many people ... living in their car, they're more isolated, they're out in the bush or up on the Domain and they're less likely to engage with other people and communities."
He said the meeting was productive.
"There's no doubt in my mind there's a genuine commitment and will from government to do something," he said.
"I've come away fairly positive."
Welfare groups welcome results
Pattie Chugg from Shelter Tasmania said the meeting was a step forward.
"We know that there's more that will need to be done, we know that there's a housing crisis, but the only way we can solve that is often through talk," she said.
Kym Goodes from TasCOSS says it was good to have a diverse range of stakeholders in the room working together.
"Today was the first step of saying the community needs to come together to address these issues," she said.
"There are some short-term, tangible outcomes that we feel comfortable that we're going to be able to work really closely with the Government on in the coming weeks.
"Let's learn from it. Let's make sure the north and the north west are protected from the lessons [of the south]."
Apprentice push
Another option under consideration is an increase in the positions available for apprentices on building sites — getting more people trained so construction of new dwellings can move faster.
Tasmania has had a high demand for trainee builders for several years.
Michael Kerschbaum from the Tasmanian branch of the Master Builders' Association says previous initiatives to recruit workers were still several years away from paying off.
"We can't see the commercial sector slowing down any time soon," he said.
"The renovation market is probably a result of the wealth affect, that people now have with their property prices increasing they're spending more money on their own homes ... that's not going to go away any time soon," he said.
But he was confident that extra apprentice positions could be filled.
"There's no shortage of people who want jobs and there's no shortage of people who apply for apprenticeships who don't get them."
He said the market would need to look at options such as having multiple staff overseeing multiple apprentices on site.
Topics: housing, housing-industry, government-and-politics, welfare, homelessness, hobart-7000, launceston-7250, burnie-7320, devonport-7310
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