More than 200 more Tasmanian families have sadly joined Tasmania's out-of-control housing waiting list while the Gutwein Government and Housing Minister Roger Jaensch continue to lead the state's most vulnerable down the path toward homelessness.
Shadow Housing Minister Alison Standen said the latest housing dashboard update released by the Liberals today contained - yet again - shocking data which painted an even bleaker picture for Tasmanians looking for a home but languishing on a skyrocketing list.
The latest data shows 219 more families joined the wait list over the last quarter of 2020, taking it beyond 3,800 families and on average, even the most urgent priority cases will still wait more than a year to be housed.
"Overall that appalling number of Tasmanians on the wait list is a 75 per cent blow-out since the Liberals came to government in 2014," Ms Standen said.
"It's just shocking the low priority this government and this completely out-of-his-depth Minister place on housing Tasmanian families, 3,800 of whom are facing a very bleak winter.
"What will it take for Minister Jaensch to act? What will it take for Peter Gutwein to act?
"When the Liberals assumed government more than seven years ago, the housing wait list was at a record low of 20 weeks.
"Asking Tasmanians to couch surf, to sleep in cars, to stay in hopelessly overcrowded situations with relatives is beyond uncaring, it is cruel.
"Mr Jaensch and his colleagues have abandoned families in desperate need and completely failed in their fundamental responsibility to provide Tasmanians with shelter."
Alison Standen MP
Shadow Housing Minister
