Palaszczuk government’s social housing failures exposed in scathing Auditor-General report

The Premier has been slammed over a “disgraceful” tweet sent in the hours after a scathing report into her government’s social housing failures.

Less than five hours after the auditor-general handed down his scathing report into the state’s social housing woes, Annastacia Palaszczuk took to Twitter to talk up her government’s social housing spend.

But the Premier’s post to her followers made no mention of Brendan Worrall’s report – which revealed the Palaszczuk government is failing to build enough social homes to keep up with the surging demand for housing.

It also found the government does not know how many more homes it will need to build amid the housing crisis.

“It’s true. No Queensland government in 77 years has invested this much into social housing,”

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk. Picture: Nigel Hallett

Ms Palaszczuk wrote in the post, which was accompanied by a picture branded with her name.

The post prompted a quick response from LNP housing spokesman Tim Mander, who took to Twitter to label the move “disgraceful”.

Mr Worrall’s report details a string of failures over how the Housing Department manages Queensland’s social housing register.

The report has prompted accusations the government does not have a handle on the housing crisis, but Housing Minister Leeanne Enoch insisted it was building as many homes as it possibly can.

The Premier’s tweet.

The report reveals the department does not do any modelling to determine future social housing needs, or forecast how cost of living changes and rising rents might affect demand for public homes.

It found 8430 of the state’s social housing dwellings have two or more spare bedrooms, while more than 2400 public housing applicants have been sitting on the register for more than five years.

And it also uncovered 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”.

It’s true. No Queensland government in 77 years has invested this much into social housing.

We’re doing it because I know how important it is to have the security of a roof over your head. pic.twitter.com/MCtHH78lUv

— Annastacia Palaszczuk (@AnnastaciaMP) July 12, 2022

Auditor-General Brendan Worrall said while the government’s plan to start construction on 6365 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.”

Mr Worrall also took aim over how the government was allocating tenancies, saying the department’s processes were not being consistently applied.

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

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

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

Ms Enoch wouldn’t say on Tuesday whether the government would increase its investment in social housing construction.

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.

Communities and Housing Minister Leeanne Enoch. Picture: Steve Pohlner

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 department have taken early and decisive action that delivers on recommendations contained in the report.”

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.”

Queensland Council of Social Service chief executive Aimee McVeigh said the report showed the government’s response to the housing crisis was not “fit for purpose”.

“On the one hand, the report shows that they do not have a handle on the current scale of the need,” she said.

“And in addition to that, they know that the housing register has grown by about 80 per cent over the last four years – but they have done no forecasting into the future.

“We have targets set by government that they’re working towards to deliver more social housing for Queenslanders and those targets bear no relationship to the actual crisis Queenslanders are facing.”

The government set aside $1.9bn in last year’s budget for its housing and homelessness plan, and also established a $1bn housing investment. But in this year’s budget, the government did not commit to any more funds beyond what it had already promised in 2021.

“We are continuing to build as many social and affordable homes as we possibly can,” Ms Enoch said.