More than 100 people are waiting for public housing in Ballarat.
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Uniting Ballarat revealed 124 households are on the priority waiting list for public housing.
Chief executive Sean Duffy has welcomed the state government’s announcement Ballarat would receive a share of 1000 new public houses if a Labor government was re-elected.
But he warned the delivery of this number of public houses would not solve the issue of homelessness in Ballarat.
Ballarat remains in desperate need of low cost housing.
- Sean Duffy, Uniting Ballarat chief executive
“A range of sizes and shapes of families are waiting for housing. We know that 40 per cent of people who are presenting to specialist housing support services are people subject to domestic and family violence.
“We are seeing a lot of single women, women and children and a lot of young people looking for one and two bedroom units.”
Uniting Ballarat has an average of 150 clients accessing homelessness services each week.
The Street to Home team, which provides support to rough sleepers, are actively working with 34 clients.
Data shows there is an even spread of where rough sleepers are located across CBD and outer areas of Ballarat also including Bacchus Marsh.
Mr Duffy said private rental availability in Ballarat remains low with around one per cent vacancy rate.
“The median weekly rental cost for a house is $300 and $250 for a unit. This is not affordable on a low income,” he said.
“We need invest in social housing that provides subsidy and provides incentives for people so they can get into housing and develop a rental history.”
Under the labor government promise, there would be 800 one and two-bedroom homes and 200 three-bedroom homes to be built in Geelong, Ballarat, Darebin, Maribyrnong, Stonnington and Whitehorse council areas.
The exact allocation of the houses has not yet been revealed.
The Council to Homeless Persons has been lobbying for 3000 new public housing properties per year for 10 years, with 1500 of those one and two bedroom homes.
Mr Duffy said the federal and state government will need to make an ongoing commitment to public housing over a long period of time.
He said both governments would also need to make commitments to fund continued support for people once they are housed, in terms of health, education and early intervention.
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