Housing Minister John Carey blames former Barnett Liberal government for housing crisis

[Pelican Press 0]

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

Housing Minister John Carey blames former Barnett Liberal government for housing crisis

Housing Minister John Carey has blamed the “mess” left behind by the Barnett government in 2017 for Perth’s homeless crisis, four weeks out from the State election.

At a forum organised by Shelter WA on Tuesday night, the Greens set the biggest target for social housing, promising to use their votes in a new-look legislative council to push for an extra 5000 social and affordable homes each year and at least 10 per cent in new private developments.

“It’s hugely urgent and, unfortunately, we have frankly been treading water in housing on every statistic,” Greens MLC Brad Pettitt said on Wednesday.

“We’re really happy to back in what the sector is calling for, WA can afford it.

“We hope that we will have the balance of power in the upper house after this election and we will be really using that to push government to actually deliver on things.”

Mr Carey said the Government has added 2800 social homes since 2021, but The West *********** revealed this week that WA’s public housing stock remains about 400 short of 2017 levels.

“Everyone understands in this room that every State is facing the critical challenge of housing supply,” he told the Shelter WA forum.

“I want to assure everyone our Government takes this task with serious and resolute focus to boost social housing in WA and provide Western Australians with safe and secure housing. We know that providing a house transforms someone’s life. It gives them the security, the emotional well being to move on to another stage.

“But let’s not forget the history of what we inherited. We inherited a mess . . . we inherited a decrepit and ageing housing system.”

Shadow Housing Minister Steve Martin said Labor had failed to adapt to the current economic climate, as he committed to transfer ownership of 1000 new social homes to community providers – if elected.

He said the Liberal party won’t outbid Labor, but won’t undo $140 million committed to homeless services in the budget.

“We will boost the asset base of those providers by about $500 million, enabling them to unlock new investment in the sector,” Mr Martin said.

“WA’s community housing providers do fantastic work supporting vulnerable Western Australians, our policy will support that work and build resilience and capacity in the sector.”

Nationals leader Shane Love promised to invest $10 million to combat rough sleeping and expand data collection via the by-name list, which identified 1869 people homeless in December in Perth, Rockingham, Mandurah, Bunbury and Geraldton.

“We know homelessness has worsened in WA,” Mr Love said.

“The real figure is likely even higher because WA Labor has failed to expand the program beyond a handful of locations.”

Labor has promised to spend $10.4 million to expand the HEART outreach program in Perth and Mandurah, if elected, $6 million for more community housing and $3.1 million for support services in Bunbury.

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

#Housing #Minister #John #Carey #blames #Barnett #Liberal #government #housing #crisis

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up