Palaszczuk Government not building enough social housing, not checking tenant eligibility

A “damning” Auditor-General’s report has revealed massive problems with the Palaszczuk Government’s social housing register, including blown-out waiting times. SEE THE LIST

The Palaszczuk government is failing to build enough social homes to keep up with the surging demand for housing, and isn’t properly checking the eligibility of tenants who they’re allocating homes to.

The worrying findings have been laid bare in a scathing Auditor-General’s report, which has called for a major overhaul over how the social housing register is run by the state’s Housing Department.

Auditor-General Brendan Worrall. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Jono Searle

The report revealed the government doesn’t do any modelling or forecasting to determine future social housing needs, and there is no consistency over how tenancies are awarded.

It also uncovered that 39 per cent of applicants on the register are unlikely to be given any housing because they cannot be contacted, have inactive applications, or are in the “lower need groups”.

And it found 8,430 of the state’s social housing dwellings have two or more spare bedrooms, and that the department has no process to identify tenants who could be transitioned to the private market.

Shockingly, people on the Gold Coast are likely to be kept waiting for up to 3.5 years before being placed in social housing, while those in remote Indigenous areas will have to wait for up to three years for a home.

It’s a similar tale in Buranda in Brisbane where desperate people are being kept waiting for up to three years, while those in Maroochydore and Moreton Bay are likely to wait more than two years.

Opposition Leader David Crisafulli said the report was “damning” – describing it as a “tale of woe”.

“It paints a picture of the government not knowing who needs the homes, how to build the homes, and how to fix the mess that they have created,” he said.

“This report shows the government is failing Queenslanders right across the state. It makes for sobering reading. It has to be alarm bells for the government to immediately start to act.”

Auditor-General Brendan Worrall said while the government’s plan to start construction on 6,365 homes by 2025 would increase supply, it wouldn’t be enough to keep up with demand.

“The department’s current processes to manage the housing register are not effective,” Mr Worrall wrote in his report.

“The department needs to take a multifaceted approach to the growing housing pressure.

“It needs to improve its current systems and processes to better manage the increasing demand for social housing in Queensland.”

Housing Minister Leeanne Enoch wouldn’t say on Tuesday if the government would up its investment in social housing construction so that it would match demand.

But she welcomed the report – saying it came at the “very right time” – and said her department would accept all the recommendations made by Mr Worrall.

Minister for Communities and Housing Leeanne Enoch at a social housing project under construction in Drayton. Picture: Morgan Burley

The Minister said since May last year, her department had also tried contacting about 98 per cent of applicants on the register – of which 21 per cent were uncontactable or were now deemed ineligible.

She confirmed those applications would be taken off the register.

“For me, certainly at the beginning of this year, seeing those kinds of results coming through, it’s pretty clear that the management of the social housing register needed some work,” Ms Enoch said.

“I need that social housing register to be the sharpest instrument it can possibly be right now so that we can meet the needs of people who really are looking for that support from the government.”

The report made eight recommendations, including that the department model future demand for social housing, and that it periodically confirms the ongoing eligibility of all applicants.

“We found examples where needs were not recorded correctly in applications or eligibility was not confirmed before making a housing allocation,” Mr Worrall wrote in his report.

“Some assessments and allocations were missing requisite internal checks.”