State Government urged to act with Clarence City Council set to follow Hobart in declaring a homelessness crisis

The time for talk is over. Hobart has a homelessness crisis on its hands and authorities are being told they must act now.

Tex, who sleeps on the streets of Hobart, in St David's Park. Picture: LUKE BOWDEN

AS a second Greater Hobart council is poised to declare the city has a homelessness crisis on its hands, housing stakeholders are urging the State Government to act immediately.

Clarence City Council will soon join Hobart to vote on a motion around growing housing woes in a bid to seek solutions. The move comes amid numerous reports and personal stories highlighting the struggles faced by people without stable housing.

TasCOSS CEO Kym Goodes said an immediate action available to the Government was to remove Tasmania’s historic public housing debt from the direct housing budget.

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“The number one thing this Government can do is absorb the housing debt across the entire state budget to remove the impact on the available housing budget,” Ms Goodes said.

“It is time to admit the loss of income annually to the Federal Government over so many years has resulted in such an under-investment of social and affordable housing.”

TasCOSS chief executive Kym Goodes. Picture: RICHARD JUPE

Shelter Tasmania executive officer Pattie Chugg called for a combination of supported crisis options and increased long-term affordable housing.

“For any short-term crisis housing options to be effective they must be linked to support, if needed, and to realistic opportunities for obtaining a long-term home,” Ms Chugg said.

Salvation Army public affairs officer Brad Watson said micro-housing and using vacant buildings could provide more immediate shelter.

“The first floor levels of premises like retail buildings that are sitting there already could be used or converted. The other thing is micro-housing, where you could put pods on existing land,” he said.

It’s hard looking at empty buildings throughout the city that are just collecting cobwebs while I lie cold trying to sleep outside. – homeless Hobart man Tex, 48

Each year $15 million out of Tasmania’s housing budget is paid to the Commonwealth to service the debt which is a legacy issue from 1956 to 1989 when the Federal Government offered low-interest loans for the states to build public housing.

A report released last week by the Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute, which gathered data from 2001 to 2016, showed Hobart experienced a 54 per cent increase in the rate of homelessness in areas where rental growth was higher than the state median.

Labor MP Alison Standen said Tasmania’s housing and homelessness crisis had become a “national shame”.

She said the Government had promised to bring forward money for next financial year but had “refused to outline any work plan or targets”.

Hobart human rights lawyer Greg Barns this week wrote “perhaps most importantly we need to view homelessness as a breach of fundamental rights”.

The State Government’s Affordable Housing Action Plan 2019-2023 promises to construct more affordable homes, release more land close to services and employment, and provide supported accommodation for targeted groups.

The recent State Budget also brought forward $10 million in funds for affordable housing to 2019-20.

A Government spokesman declined the Mercury’s request for comment.

On the street, staring at empty buildings

A HOMELESS Hobart man who sleeps each night in a park has detailed just how bad things are.

Homeless man Tex, 48, feels Hobart’s winter chill more than most.

Every night he blankets down behind bushes in a popular CBD park and wakes up to the sounds of commuters passing him by.

He is one of an estimated 120 people currently sleeping rough in the Hobart area every night.

To date, the Hodgman Government has not conceded the state is in a homelessness crisis, despite the Hobart City Council asking for immediate moves on the issue and Liberal Speaker Sue Hickey calling for action.

“I’ve been homeless on and off since I was eight. I’ve spent time in housing but homelessness just keeps calling me back,” Tex said.

“Of course I’d appreciate a home through the winter.

“It’s hard looking at empty buildings throughout the city that are just collecting cobwebs while I lie cold trying to sleep outside.”

Clarence City Council Alderman Brendan Blomeley. Picture: LUKE BOWDEN

Clarence looks to join forces

CLARENCE will become the second Greater Hobart council this winter to move a motion to deal with the city’s homelessness crisis.

Alderman Brendan Blomeley, left, has announced his intention to bring on a discussion about the city’s housing crisis at the next council meeting on June 17.

It comes as the Hobart City Council announced its Forum on Homelessness would be held on June 20.

The Hobart council passed a housing and homelessness crisis motion to convene an urgent meeting with state and federal government representatives, shelter and homelessness service providers, relevant businesses and other stakeholders to assist with immediate solutions to the crisis.

“Clarence City Council has an integral part to play in the broader Hobart community — if there’s an emergency in one of the councils in the Hobart area then it is up to all of us to look at ways that we can assist,” Ald Blomeley said.

“What councils also need to do is look at how we can work together to increase supply.

“If Clarence City Council can look at ways to increase housing supply that are strategic and well-co-ordinated with other councils and the State Government, then we can tackle one of the root causes of this issue — the rapid increase in population the Greater Hobart area is experiencing.”

Council colleague Ald Wendy Kennedy said homelessness in Clarence was “real”.

“We must put politics aside and treat this crisis as an emergency on the eve of becoming a full-scale disaster,” she said.