Tasmanians seeking housing assistance are increasingly being left out in the cold, with less than 50 per cent of homeless people being assisted into accommodation after requesting help from services in the 2019-20 financial year.
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The latest annual specialist homelessness services statistics from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare show that an average of 36 requests for assistance - including multiple requests from individuals seeking help from more than one shelter - were unmet each day in Tasmania, up 33 per cent in the past two years.
According to the data, a far greater proportion of Tasmanian clients (92 per cent) required accommodation, compared to the national average (59 per cent).
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Pattie Chugg, chief executive of the state's peak housing and homelessness body Shelter Tas, said the report was further evidence of pressures on the homelessness sector arising from a "chronic shortage" of affordable rentals across Tasmania.
"It is important to recognise that Tasmania's 50 specialist homelessness services assisted 6,400 clients, and significant efforts are being made to improve the supply of affordable rental housing in Tasmania," she said.
"However, the pressures of increased demand for housing, rising rental prices combined with low and precarious incomes mean that too many people are missing out on the housing they urgently need.
"In Tasmania's competitive and unaffordable rental market, many low income earners must make impossible choices between essentials such as food and heating or having a home. Single parent working families, [JobSeeker] recipients, young people and aged and disability pensioners are the worst affected, along with many households who have lost income due to the COVID-19 pandemic effects on the Tasmanian economy."
Ms Chugg said Shelter Tas and its members were calling for a boost to social housing construction, urging the state government to bump up the proportion of total dwellings that are community housing or social rentals from just above 5 per cent to 10 per cent.
In Tasmania's competitive and unaffordable rental market, many low income earners must make impossible choices between essentials such as food and heating or having a home.
- Pattie Chugg, Shelter Tas chief executive
The foremost reasons Tasmanians sought housing assistance in the previous financial year were housing crisis (50 per cent compared with 34 per cent nationally); financial difficulties (45 per cent compared with 41 per cent) and; housing affordability stress (44 per cent compared with 29 per cent).
While the state's overall client rate decreased on previous years, rates for indigenous clients and people with a mental health issue went up.
Of clients who were at risk of homelessness upon first presentation, 81 per cent were helped to maintain their housing arrangements, while 46 per cent of clients who presented when already homeless were assisted into housing.
Greens leader Cassy O'Connor said government "inaction" was forcing people to sleep rough.
"This is the human cost of years of underfunding housing supply by the Liberal government, while they let short-stay accommodation get out of control in areas of housing crisis like Hobart," she said. "This, during a pandemic. It's shameful."
"The Gutwein government ... need to prioritise new homes for Tasmanians over roads and bridges."
A government spokesperson noted that 47 per cent of clients received assistance in 2019-20, compared to the national average of 30 per cent.
"More Tasmanians were also assisted for longer periods and stayed longer in accommodation in Tasmania, with the median length of support days being 78 days in Tasmania compared to 43 days nationally," the spokesperson said.
"We know there is more to do and that is why this year's budget locks in more than $300 million towards housing and homelessness services across Tasmania."
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