A local parliamentarian has used National Homelessness Week to highlight what she described as a “massive increase in homeless numbers” across the Goulburn and Murray valleys.
State Member for Northern Victoria Wendy Lovell said 2021 census data had shown homelessness numbers continued to increase.
Ms Lovell said in late March, the Australian Bureau of Statistics released homeless numbers by local government area.
She said those figures revealed an increase of 107 people across Greater Shepparton, Moira and Strathbogie local government areas who were homeless on census night 2021, compared to 2016.
Ms Lovell said of the 30,605 Victorians who were homeless on census night 2021, 418 were in the Greater Shepparton, 78 were in Moira and 34 in Strathbogie.
Each figure represented increases of 18 per cent (Greater Shepparton), 15 per cent (Moira) and 26 per cent (Strathbogie) between 2016 and 2021.
“The massive increase in homeless numbers is further proof of the Andrews Labor Government’s failure to look after our region’s most vulnerable residents,” Ms Lovell said.
“These figures will have only increased due to the October 2022 flood event, yet we have failed to see any real solutions put forward by the Andrews Labor Government.”
Ms Lovell said Victoria’s housing crisis continued to worsen, with social housing waiting lists climbing each quarter.
She said the latest available data of March 2023 showed 3692 families waiting for housing, including 2100 families who had priority status as they waited for housing in either Greater Shepparton, Moira or Strathbogie.
“Families with priority status are deemed to be in immediate need of housing; however, the state budget performance measure shows applicants are waiting an average of 20.2 months to be housed if escaping domestic violence or 16.5 months for other categories,” Ms Lovell said.
“Data released by the Australian Institute of Heath and Welfare showed that in 2014 social housing accounted for 3.5 per cent of all housing in Victoria; under Labor, this had declined to only 2.9 per cent by 2022.
“The state Labor Government like to talk about ‘Big Housing Builds’, but what they don’t tell you is how many properties they are disposing of through demolitions, sales and lease handbacks.”
The government has committed 25 per cent or $1.25 billion of its $5 billion Big Housing Build for regional Victoria.
It has also made a minimum investment commitment of $765 million to 18 local government areas that have a significant regional town or city or high population growth.
Greater Shepparton has been listed for $45 million under the scheme, but Moira and Strathbogie are excluded.