A THOUSAND new public housing properties will be built in Victoria in three years if Labor is re-elected, Premier Daniel Andrews has promised.
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But Bendigo did not feature in a statement detailing the government’s plans for the $209 million investment.
“We know there is a great need for more public housing in regional Victoria and to ensure the existing properties are modern, environmentally friendly and better suited to local demand,” Housing Minister Martin Foley told the Bendigo Advertiser.
“In this term of government, we’ve acquired an additional 68 properties in the Greater Bendigo region, providing more homes for those who need them most.
“We’re also investing $10 million to improve public housing in the Virginia Hill estate, and have already spent $16.9 million in upgrades to 171 properties across Bendigo.”
The government yesterday committed to build 800 one and two-bedroom properties and 200 three-bedroom properties, statewide, by 2022.
Regional areas highlighted in a media statement included Geelong and Ballarat, as well as four local government areas in Melbourne.
Labor estimates the new properties will provide new homes for 1800 people.
Ken Marchingo, the head of Bendigo-based housing service provider Haven; Home, Safe, said the announcement was ‘incontrovertibly a good thing’.
But he was interested in why Bendigo wasn’t mentioned.
“We would hope there are some other, or further, plans to specifically deal with that,” Mr Marchingo said.
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He said demand for housing stock would still outstrip supply, even once the new 1000 properties were built.
Mr Marchingo said nearly 3000 new public housing properties would be needed to play catch-up. Still, he said the announcement was substantial.
A total of 57,877 adults and 24,622 children in Victoria were waiting for social housing in Victoria, a parliamentary inquiry revealed in June.
The Loddon region – encompassing the Campaspe, Central Goldfields, Mt Alexander, Macedon Ranges, Bendigo and Loddon shires – had 3000 public housing properties, at the time.
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There were 1394 applications on the Victorian housing register waiting list for the Loddon Region, 746 of which were listed as ‘priority access’.
The data did not specify the number of people per application.
In 2010-14, Victoria had a comparable level of housing stock to the USA.
Mr Foley attributed the dearth of housing stock in Victoria to $330 million worth of cuts made by the Liberal party when it was in government.
Victorians go to the polls on November 24.
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