Michael Ferguson,Minister for State Development, Construction and Housing
Tasmania has one of the most integrated housing systems in the country and we are improving how we report on the performance of this system to reflect the expanding range of services offered to Tasmanians.
Today's updated and expanded Housing Dashboard is the first in our new monthly format, increasing the frequency of reporting from the previous quarterly reporting which itself was much more informative than before we came to office.
The new report is transparent and comprehensive and brings together indicators from the previously published Human Services Dashboard and Quarterly Housing Report. It also includes a range of new indicators detailing the breadth of the housing services available and provided to those in need.
Both demand and supply factors and local and global economic conditions are critical to understanding the housing market and the updated reporting provides a more detailed insight into these and their impacts on housing.
In addition to the almost 14,000 households already in social housing, a further 2,570 households were assisted with their housing needs in the past year through a variety of programs that Communities Tasmania manage.
The reporting also shows that existing social housing dwellings are being used efficiently, with almost all homes occupied, at an average occupancy of 99.4 per cent through the year and new tenants are moving into vacant dwellings within an average of just 22 days of the property being vacated.
There is more work to be done as I want every Tasmanian to have a safe roof over their heads. We are seeing continued growth in demand for social housing, and we are working to grow our capability to meet that demand with an unprecedented investment to build housing supply.
Importantly, another 326 new long-term homes were built, including 127 in the June 2021 quarter and a further 21 new lots of land were released to the market during the year.
This has all been made possible due to our record investment of $615 million into social and affordable housing, and homelessness initiatives, including our record election commitment of $280 million to extend our building program of new social housing for Tasmanians in need, which is the biggest in this State for decades.
The extra funding committed at the election will be presented in next month's State Budget.
This means that we will build an extra 2,000 new homes by 2027, on top of the 1,500 by 2023, bringing the total to 3,500 new homes by 2027 to help our most vulnerable.
Dashboard can be found here: https://www.communities.tas.gov.au/housing/tasmanian_affordable_housing_strategy/reporting
