New data showing the rate of homelessness in Tasmania is 15 per cent above the national average is yet another wake-up call for the Liberal government to act on the state's housing crisis.
The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare Specialist Homelessness Services Annual Report 2021-22 shows the number of Tasmanians seeking homelessness support rose by more than 400 last year to 7,000.
The report showed that 2300 Tasmanians were supported by specialist homelessness services in 2021-22, with an average of 61 people a day seeking assistance from not-for-profit and charitable organisations.
More than a third of people seeking help were parents with children, underlining the stress and uncertainty facing too many Tasmanian families.
The data also points to a severe shortage of housing generally in Tasmania.
Nearly half of all people seeking homelessness assistance did so due to housing affordability stress - well above the national average of 31 per cent.
On top of that, 93 per cent of people seeking support needed accommodation, compared to 60 per cent nationally - but only two in five people who were already homeless were assisted into housing.
The Housing Minister Guy Barnett keeps trying to spin the figures by saying the Liberals are building 10,000 houses in 10 years.
But in the past nine years they have built just 1,346, and every month, official data shows them falling further and further behind and failing to meet their own targets.
Our specialist homelessness support services do a wonderful job helping Tasmanian into housing but they can only do so much with the resources they have.
After years of failing to get the basics right and focusing on a $750 million stadium in Hobart, the Liberals need to stop spinning and start acting to deliver the housing they have promised - and give all Tasmanians a safe place to live.
Ella Haddad MP
Shadow Housing Minister
