Thousands of homes are empty across Victoria, prompting concerns that unused properties are contributing to the housing crisis in Victoria.
The Victorian government is leaving thousands of public housing dwellings empty in the midst of the housing crisis, FOI documents reveal, prompting anger and confusion from public housing residents and their advocates.
Van den Lamb said the urgency of the housing crisis meant the state government should do what it could to utilise any empty public properties, even if it were a small dent in the waiting list. Several properties were empty for a year or longer, and many for hundreds of days. Thousands of properties were listed in the document as vacant for zero “KPI days”, due to re-letting restrictions imposed. It was not clear how long those homes had been without residents.
“We work to ensure all vacant properties are tenanted as soon as possible – the total number of vacant properties has reduced by 30 per cent from 30 June 2023 to 31 July this year.” Inner Melbourne Community Legal managing lawyer Louisa Bassini said it was frustrating to hear that thousands of dwellings, many of them in inner-city suburbs, were being left empty. The legal centre has been offering legal assistance to public housing tenants displaced by a state government project to renew the public housing towers and are struggling to find public housing close to their existing communities.
“It comes across as a false scarcity thing. The idea that there’s a shortage of public housing in the inner city is being used to strong-arm people into community housing,” she said.
Australia Latest News, Australia Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Record rainfall sees thousands evacuated in northern Japan as flooding kills two people and displaces thousandsParts of northern Japan received nearly 400mm of rain, with 200,000 people on alert for more rain in coming days.
Read more »
Breakthrough Victoria: Start-up founder Dean Freestone sues Victoria’s venture capital fundThe Victorian government’s troubled venture capital fund Breakthrough Victoria faces a multi-million dollar legal battle.
Read more »
Helen Zahos thought she was poor until a school social experiment revealed she was 'well off'It's Pay Day! An emergency nurse answers the questions we don't like to talk about as we seek to demystify personal finance and normalise conversations about how we think about money, what we earn and how we spend it.
Read more »
'She must answer for what she did': Russian chess player allegedly tried to poison opponentA Russian chess player is facing jailtime and a possible lifetime ban from the sport after poisoning a younger rival.
Read more »
‘She loved the style’: Buyer pays $2.2m for house she toured half an hour beforeAn interstate buyer who first saw the Hampton home on FaceTime flew down, loved the style and the block, and triumphed at auction.
Read more »
‘She wishes she could go back’: Meghan Markle regrets marrying into royal familyMeghan Markle misses her 'care-free' life prior to marrying into the monarchy due to constant media scrutiny, a source close to the Sussexes has revealed.
Read more »