Ad for bed in North Hobart hallway a sign of city’s rental market crisis, says Labor

An advertisement offering to rent a sleeping space in a North Hobart hallway was a sign of how bad the city’s housing crisis has become, says Labor.

AN advertisement offering to rent a sleeping space in a hallway was a sign of how bad the city’s housing crisis has become, Labor’s Treasury spokesman Scott Bacon says.

Mr Bacon said an advertisement, on a popular classified advertising website, offering a single bed in a hallway for $75 a week was a symptom of how dire the rental market had become.

The ad read: “Accommodation is available in North Hobart for a boy,” the ad read. ‘It is a 2-bedroom house 2 boys living in 1 room and a couple living in another room.

“We are looking for someone who is interested to stay in the hall and a single bed is there for use.”

Rent ad for North Hobart shows depths of housing crisis, says Labor.

Mr Bacon said urgent action was required to ease the housing crisis.

“We know that this is a government that’s been told for nearly two years that there’s a crisis in rental affordability and housing affordability here in Tasmania and they’ve done very little to address that,” he said.

“They’re not taking the issue seriously.

“And what this ad on Gumtree does is really highlight how difficult this is making things for individual Tasmanians.

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“It does highlight exactly what issues people are facing right around Tasmania.”

Liberal member and Speaker of the House of Assembly Sue Hickey has also called for the government to take urgent action to help people sleeping rough in Hobart this winter.

She says 14 months after the housing summit, the number of people sleeping in tents, cars and in the open was on the rise.

But Treasurer Peter Gutwein said the government was already doing all it could to help ease the current housing crisis.

“The government in this coming budget ruling based around $67 million dollars into affordable housing,” he said.

“There are a range of mechanisms that are used by Communities Tasmania in terms of assisting people to find shelter. I’m certain that he’ll continue to use those mechanisms.

“The minister responsible Roger Jaensch and Communities Tasmania in the community has a range of mechanisms available to him and he’ll continue to use those.