Tasmania housing affordability hits new lows in COVID-19 pandemic

The Government needs to focus not on what will return Tasmania to a life before this virus took hold, but what we can do now to make it a better and fairer state when we open for business again.

WE’VE lost count of the number of stories published in these pages about the urgent need for new affordable housing in Tasmania.

In February this year, the House of Assembly Select Committee on Housing Affordability handed down its final report which held more than 60 recommendations to fix the housing crisis.

It addressed a raft of pinch-points, including concerns about the short-stay accommodation boom and what it described as an archaic Residential Tenancy Act.

READ MORE: Housing affordability in Tasmania continues to decrease

But the state’s peak housing group — Shelter Tasmania — has been adamant that there is no way to alleviate the pressure without increasing supply.

Hobart has been dubbed Australia’s most expensive capital in recent times, and the downward pressure on tenants has ultimately led to our most vulnerable people struggling for shelter.

Due to high rents, lower income Tasmanians have been pushed from the private rental market into social and community housing, which has in turn put downward pressure on an already struggling sector.

There’s a real need for more affordable housing options in Tasmania.

Now the coronavirus crisis has temporarily changed the face of the rental market.

As we reported earlier this week, normally out-of-reach properties have hit the market.

Between March 31 and May 31, CoreLogic reported a minus 1.4 per cent shift in Hobart’s house rental price and minus 2 per cent for the unit sector.

Both were the largest declines in the capital city markets.

Those who were benefiting from Tasmania’s tourism boom by offering properties as short-stay accommodation fell on harder times as the borders closed and visitation to the state stopped.

It’s forced them to return high-yielding properties onto the market for regular rent.

However, many are only offering three to six- months leases in the hope that as the powers-that-be release the shackles, tourists will return and they can once again earn top dollar.

As we pointed out, any glut will be short-lived, and both state and local governments have no choice but to increase supply of housing.

Ahead of announcing the details of the State Government’s record infrastructure spend, Premier Peter Gutwein said Tasmania would see a “construction blitz” the like of which the state had never seen before.

“As a government, we will take the necessary steps to give our businesses the confidence they need to ensure they can continue to invest, innovate and support Tasmanian jobs,” Mr Gutwein said.

Today the Mercury can reveal that as part of that spend, the Premier will announce funding to build 1000 new affordable homes.

He will remind Tasmanians that his spending spree — designed to ease the COVID-19-induced economic downturn — is also, importantly, orchestrated to target the state’s major social issues.

It’s long been known that in the best of times the spoils from Tasmania’s prosperity haven’t been spread equally across the state, and it’s encouraging to see the government try to right those wrongs during the downturn and keep its eye on the bigger picture as we enter into a life post COVID-19.

If the Government wants to be truly aspirational, it needs to focus not on what will return Tasmania to a life before this virus took hold, but what we can do now to make it a better and fairer state when we open for business again.