By KATRINA BRANDON, STEFAN BRADLEY and DAVID BRAITHWAITE

 

NEW homes are underway as part of the Big Housing Build project throughout Victoria, with seven social homes currently close to being completed in Moe.

The government will deliver 1300 social and affordable homes across Victoria through the $1 billion Regional Housing Fund, and has announced that of the first 1000 homes, 65 will be built in “Outer Gippsland”, including Latrobe Valley, Wellington and East Gippsland shires, and 110 in “Inner Gippsland”.

Minister for Housing and Member for Eastern Victoria Region, Harriet Shing visited Moe last week, to announce that the build in Moe will be done in time for Christmas. The project aims to provide housing to people in need, including victim/survivors of family violence and those at risk or experiencing homelessness.

The state government has invested $91 million into the Latrobe Valley region to create 219 new homes; 102 homes have been completed, and 117 are underway. Overall, $228 million has been invested within the Gippsland area to create 540 new homes.

The Moe development results from a partnership between Homes Victoria and Community Housing Victoria Ltd. The state government invested more than $2.3 million in the project.

Within the development, energy efficiency was considered in the construction of the buildings so that residents could keep cool in summer and warm in winter.

“We are in the process of transforming social housing across the state. As part of our investment of more than $6.3 billion, we have invested $1.25 billion of that in regional and rural Victoria,” Ms Shing said.

“They (the homes) are bright. They are modern. They are energy efficient. They meet all of the requirements for accessibility. They also have great storage and are really places people will be proud to call home.

Accommodation: New social houses almost completed in Moe. Photograph: Katrina Brandon

“We want to really make sure that we are building housing that meets people’s needs, that is close to train stations, healthcare, primary education, and childcare, and also close to where people work as our population grows.”

The $6.3 billion is being invested through the Big Housing Build and Regional Housing Fund, and has more than 10,000 homes underway or complete right across the state, and nearly 5000 households are moving in or have moved into brand new homes.

Ms Shing told the Express that between now and 2028/29, the state hopes to deliver around 1900 new social and affordable homes to meet the overwhelming demand for units, townhouses and apartments.

One of the project’s objectives is to ensure that planning approvals happen faster to help expand the housing market. The project also hopes to alleviate the costs of people finding homes specifically for their occupation.

“The Minister for Regional Development, Gayle Tierney has a $150 million fund. Here in the Latrobe Valley for example, we have accommodation and housing for seven healthcare workers in Moe who provide aged care services on-site,” Ms Shing said.

“This is the sort of model that will take pressure off of the existing system, and the private rental market will enable the shortage of workers across aged care, healthcare, and early childhood education to be met because we don’t see that shortage of housing and accommodation is something that keeps people away from being able to move to regional Victoria or to stay in regional Victoria.”

Member for Gippsland East, Tim Bull however maintains there are fewer homes in many local government areas (LGAs) across the state.

“The reality of it is, we have less homes in many local government areas across the state, including Gippsland. There are less social housing homes in Wellington Shire Council and significantly less in the Latrobe Valley,” he said.

“In the midst of significant population increase and a housing crisis worsened by Labor pushing landlords from the rental market, we have four less social housing homes in East Gippsland than we had in Labor’s first term.

“This government spruiks about its so-called Big Housing Build, but it is irrelevant how many homes you build if at the same time you are demolishing or selling off a greater number, resulting in a net loss. That is what has occurred here.”

Earlier this year, Mr Bull asked Ms Shing in Parliament about public housing residences in the East Gippsland Shire.

Responding to a question on notice, Ms Shing confirmed the local government area had four less social housing homes than when it came to government nearly 10 years ago, saying “that there were 931 social housing dwellings in the East Gippsland Local Government Area as of June 30, 2023. At June 30, 2017, there were 927 social housing dwellings in the East Gippsland Local Government Area”.

Mr Bull said: “Whenever she is publicly questioned on this, Ms Shing wants to talk about what the Liberals and Nationals did in government to deflect from her failure to have supported her own electorate.”

“Even then, the answer to her question is, we had a public housing waiting list around half of what it is now. It has exploded to 61,587 under her watch.

“It is not a Big Housing Build at all, it is more a big housing con. The government has led people to believe these new homes are all additional homes boosting social housing numbers – but they are not.

“In addition to having less homes, when you look at the net amount of bedrooms, it is an even worse outcome. The homes that are being sold off or demolished around the region are in some cases three-four bedroom homes and they are being replaced by one and two bedroom dwellings, so apart from the reduction in homes, we’ve lost a significant number of bedrooms also.”

In response, Ms Shing said: “as part of the $1 billion Regional Housing Fund, and the delivery of more than 1300 additional social housing homes across rural and regional Victoria, Homes Victoria is urgently acquiring 50 transitional homes to support people experiencing homelessness in regional areas. Five of these homes (or 10 per cent of the total new homes) will be located in Outer Gippsland.