Roger Jaensch,Minister for Housing
Alison Standen is yet again deliberately ignoring the facts on housing and instead choosing to play silly political games.
As we outlined in December last year, over the next four years, savings from the waiver of our Commonwealth housing debt will help a further 400 households into suitable accommodation.
These funds are already delivering for Tasmanians, with 30 households already assisted through private rentals and additional social housing, the construction of 127 new social houses now underway and contracts for another 173 new homes currently being finalised.
Labor were in Government for 16 years and took no action on the housing debt. It took the election of a Liberal Government to fight for it to be waived, which we delivered- and yet Labor still have the audacity to complain.
The debt waiver is in addition to our record investment into the Affordable Housing Strategy, with the latest Quarterly Housing Report showing that over the 2019/20 financial year, the Government delivered 316 new social houses and assisted almost 400 other households with their housing needs across the same period.
We are continuing to put our foot down even further with the recent release of the EOI inviting bids from qualified parties to deliver up to 1000 new social houses under our $100 million Community Housing Growth Program – more than double the number that Labor’s half-baked policy would deliver, for the same money.
We won’t be distracted by Labor’s political games. We’re getting on with the job of delivering more homes for Tasmanians as we continue to recover from COVID-19.
