Shipping containers, hotel rooms in homelessness plan

Housing Minister Roger Jaensch has expanded existing initiatives to help ease Tasmania’s homelessness crisis.

Housing Minister Roger Jaensch. Picture: RICHARD JUPE

ACCOMMODATION providers will be offered extra incentives to open their doors to people facing homelessness and repurposed shipping containers will be placed near existing emergency shelters in the Government’s renewed push to address Tasmania’s housing crisis.

Housing Minister Roger Jaensch announced the new measures aimed at boosting the capacity of existing homelessness initiatives after a 1½ hour meeting with community sector organisations, the Premier and Labor and Green representatives on Friday.

“We’re going to lift the resources available there on both fronts and build capacity of the whole system to take people in, make them safe and secure and move them into housing supply as it comes online,” Mr Jaensch said.

“Today we secured the agreement of our sector and across politics that this is a sound way forward, that we can address the immediacy of need with some urgency by boosting the capacity of existing systems which do work to take more people to get them housed securely sooner.”

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Premier and Tourism Minister Will Hodgman will be charged with talking to the hospitality industry about offering more hotel rooms to people in need, and work will soon begin on looking at buying or renting prefabricated units that can be placed near existing emergency accommodation to boost their offerings, Mr Jaensch said.

The Braddon Liberal MHA said the response to the housing crisis would be driven by demand, declining to detail how many extra beds would be provided to people in need. Mr Hodgman and Mr Jaensch will present the plan to Cabinet next week where they will secure the funds needed for the plan.

Shelter Tasmania executive officer Pattie Chugg.

Labor MP Alison Standen.

Shelter Tasmania executive officer Pattie Chugg, who attended the meeting, welcomed progress towards helping those in desperate need.

“We’re very much looking forward to continuing to work with the government,” Ms Chugg said.

“We want to see that there’s a quality framework put over all proposals to show there’s not only value for money but protections for vulnerable people going into those situations.”

Tourism Industry Council Tasmania chief executive Luke Martin said the extension of the initiative offering accommodation providers incentives to take in people facing homelessness would be likely welcomed through the quiet winter period.

“It’s a free market and accommodation operators with vacancies will no doubt be interested — it’s a short-term fix but obviously not a long-term fix,” Mr Martin said.

Opposition housing spokeswoman Alison Standen also welcomed action but said questions remained about how and when it would be implemented.

“We know that this is a period of high demand, so I’m not satisfied there will be anything changing in the next week to month but immediate action is needed,” Ms Standen said.

“We know that there are people sleeping rough in the cold, three weeks into winter, and we need action now.”

The crisis meeting came after Mr Jaensch was pressured by Liberal colleague Sue Hickey to act immediately to help Tasmania’s homeless.

Ms Hickey attended the talks.