16 September 2022
Guy Barnett, Minister for State Development, Construction and Housing,
More Tasmanian families now have a place to call home, with construction recently completed on 28 two-bedroom units in Ravenswood by Centacare Evolve Housing.
These new homes are providing safe and secure homes for Priority applicants off Tasmania’s Housing Register and it was a pleasure to meet some of the new residents today.
They shared their stories about the benefits these homes have made to their lives and the wonderful sense of community they have established.
That is what our Government’s social housing program is all about – delivering safe, secure and stable housing for vulnerable Tasmanians; to deliver housing that is not just somewhere to live but a place to call home, a secure base to go out into the world from and a place to grow and thrive as a person and member of our community.
The Tasmanian Government’s record investment in social and affordable housing and our partnership with the state’s Community Housing Providers is delivering more properties that are providing homes for Tasmanians.
The Tasmanian Government, provided funding of $145,000 for each of the 28 units. The development also included eight properties that have been sold to private buyers as affordable housing.
The funding was supplied under the Community Housing Growth Program, which is delivering new social housing properties in 24 Local Government Areas across Tasmania, providing homes for those who need them most and underpinning jobs in every region of the State.
The program has a total capital investment of more than $236 million and will deliver a total economic benefit to the state of $685 million and support 1,700 building and construction sector jobs.
This program is simultaneously strengthening Tasmania’s social housing system and ensuring its sustainability as the most integrated housing and homelessness system in the nation.
We have a bold and ambitious plan to significantly boost our social housing stock and that plan requires us to be innovative and agile and to do things differently.
We need to build more homes and we need to build them faster, which is why we are investing a record $1.5 billion over the next 10 years to build 10,000 new social and affordable homes and units. The cornerstone of our plan is the new statutory housing authority, Homes Tasmania, which will be able to leverage its $3.5 billion asset base to deliver these new homes by 2032.
The Tasmanian Government looks forward to continuing to support debate on the Bill once Parliament resumes following the current break due to Her Majesty’s passing.
If you are at risk of homelessness, please contact Housing Connect, 24 hours a day, seven days a week on 1800 800 588.
