Call for housing help escalates

Almost seven per cent of West Australian applicants waiting for public housing are based in the South West, according to the Department of Housing.

The number of people on the waiting list in the region has risen 152 in the year to October to 1639 applicants, with more than 24,700 people across the State also seeking government housing.

The figures, obtained by the South Western Times, were revealed a week after Collie-Preston MLA Mick Murray called for a feasibility study into the viability of converting the former St John of God hospital into a residential complex to ease pressure for public housing.

Department of Housing general manager service delivery Steve Parry said factors influencing the time an applicant could wait for housing included the region in which the applicant was seeking a home, the turnover of tenants in an area and the type of housing being sought.

‘‘Western Australia has seen an unprecedented increase in demand for public housing in recent years driven by population increase, the resources boom and rising house prices and rents, with a consequent huge impact on low-income households,’’ he said.

‘‘Many people can no longer afford to buy or rent a home in the private sector.

‘‘People who would never have previously considered public housing are nowturning to the department for help, which has contributed to an increase of numbers on the waiting list.’’

Mr Murray believed the derelict St John hospital site would be ideal for creating a public housing complex, after years of being ravaged by vandals and wayward teenagers.

‘‘Night after night families throughout the South West have to move from town to town to find a bed, a place to stay,’’ he said.

Opposition housing and works spokesman Mark McGowan has called for the immediate release of the State Government’s strategy to address soaring public housing waitlists and home prices.

‘‘As 2010 ends, West Australians still have no news on which of the recommendations (from the Social Housing Taskforce) the Barnett Government will adopt and how it plans to address the State’s housing crisis,’’ he said.