Samantha’s application for public housing is one of 4603 currently on the Tasmanian waiting list

Life in the too hard basket: A family violence survivor sleeps in a tent with kids and pets as Tasmania’s public housing wait time balloons to 80 weeks.

Labor shadow housing minister Ella Haddad with Samantha (not real name) who has been homeless for six months after fleeing family violence. Picture: Chris Kidd

A TASMANIAN family who left a violent home six months ago are now living on and off in a tent.

Samantha’s application for public housing is one of 4603 currently waiting to be fulfilled in the state’s overwhelmed public housing system.

The average time to house priority applications continued to increase and was at 80.8 weeks - four months longer than the wait time a year ago.

When the Mercury first met Samantha and her two children in February, they had been homeless for three months.

At that time they were staying in a friend’s garage.

“We’re now sleeping in a tent, most of the time pitching it in locations that we can just get pretty much. Most of the caravan parks and that are full, we have gone to the dog park a few times,” Samantha said.

“We are very lucky to have support through Catholic Care and the support worker we do have he’s incredible at his job. However that’s just his job isn’t it? At the end of the day everyone gets to go home to their beds and we continue on.”

Shadow Housing Minister Ella Haddad.

Samantha (not her real name) acknowledges her case is more complicated than some.

They have an animal and the family’s youngest child is undergoing treatment for a brain tumour.

They are down to one cat, with their dog and other cat being temporarily housed.

“Really we fall into a gap in the system because we have an animal my sick child refuses to leave, and there is no system in place for anyone with animals for emergency accomodation,” Samantha said.

“There’s also one more gap in the system as well. That is if you have a child who is male and of an age where he appears to be adult like, 16 or over, a lot of women’s shelters do not accept young men.”

While she waits for housing Samantha has organised meetings with a range of homelessness providers to advocate for people in similar situations.

“I’m going to make a change. I’ve tried for six months and I haven’t got my foot in the door,” she said.

Shadow housing minister Ella Haddad said while Samantha’s case was challenging, there were systems in place meant to help her.

“(Previously) you could get out of a shelter into transitional accommodation, private rent or social housing. That system has broken down now. And the thing that’s really been noticeable for me with Samantha’s situation,” Ms Haddad said.

A spokeswoman for Homes Tasmania said prioritisation for social housing considered the applicant’s circumstances, to determine their level of need and ensure that those in greatest need received housing offers first.

“We can advise that (Samantha) has been assessed as a Standard priority since last December.

In recognition of her needs she is eligible for a large house. Social housing properties, particularly larger homes, are in high demand with limited vacancies and we would again encourage her to expand her selection of suburbs, to increase the likelihood of receiving an offer of a home sooner,” the spokeswoman said.

“We acknowledge the importance pets play in people’s lives and that they can be vital to people’s mental health and wellbeing.”

A spokesman for Housing Minister Guy Barnett said the government recently set an ambitious target to deliver 1500 social and affordable homes by June 2023 and was tracking well with 914 of these homes completed as at the end of April 2023.