Public housing: seven years, eight months wait

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p22102-public-housing-3By ERWIN CHLANDA
 
There are 113 vacant public homes and Alice Springs while 612 applicants are waiting up to 93 months – that’s seven years and eight months – to move in.
 
A spokeswoman for Housing Minister Bess Price says the empty houses include 14 dwellings flagged for the renal program, and six in the allocation process.
 
The vacant properties include 69 – well over half – that are “dwellings which are approved for sale /  awaiting disposal or reinvestment decision, or requiring major works are considered to be non-operational dwellings as they are not tenantable”.
 
In the last three months 27 houses have been returned to stock.  28 vacant properties have been released to panel contractors for works and these assets should be back into stock “by the end of November 2015”.
 
A further 30 dwellings are being “scoped for release to the panel contractors”.
 
There are 172 non-pensioners waiting for one-bedroom flats – waiting time 83 months.
 
There are 132 pensioners waiting for one-bedroom flats (73 months).
 
Two-bedroom houses have a 65 months waiting list for 152 applicants; 3-br 74 months for 155 applicants and there is an unknown waiting period for 4-br houses for one applicant.
 
“We are currently looking at new ideas to reduce the wait list. This includes our innovative social housing head leasing policy. Some other ideas for possible responses are included in the Housing Strategy Consultation Draft,” says the spokeswoman.
 
PHOTO: Boarded-up public housing in Alice Springs.
 
 

6 COMMENTS

  1. Give them hell, Erwin. This is disgraceful. EXPOSE! EXPOSE! EXPOSE!
    And Compliments of the Season to you and yours, Rob.

  2. It took Housing nearly three years to fix the unit next to me that had an aircon fire.
    There is a house across from us that has been broken into and trashed. Now most windows are boarded up. It has graffiti on the house. The house has been vacant for about four years.
    Now it’s going to cost more money to fix it.
    You tell Housing about the problem, when the problem is small and easy to fix.
    But they leave it until it’s a big problem and now costs more money. Housing is always telling us that they have no money to spend.

  3. Young families are living in caravan parks in Alice. They can’t afford the ridiculous rental prices being asked. There are those who live in there cars, and others who live in hotel / motel accommodation.
    The owners and managers of these places are Adam Giles supporters, so they won’t stand up and say, Adam, what happened when Labor were in power and you had made a big song and dance about housing in Alice Springs? Expressing very strong views about empty housing and derelict housing. It seems now you have forgotten!
    Ps.: We won’t say anything, we need numbers in the off tourist season, so continue to leave the houses.
    Empty and in ruins, decreasing property values in those streets, and longer government housing waiting lists will help us too, and you have our votes at next election.

  4. Housing is not and should not be a God given gift. And some tenants who do have a house do not look after it and expect again for the taxpayer to fix their mess.
    This is a lucky country but many abuse its gifts.

  5. Senator Bob Day, a former president of the Housing Industry Association, warns about devastating economic consequences from dramatic declines in housing affordability.
    Senator Day claims: “The real culprit, the real source of the problem, is the refusal of local and state governments and their land management agencies to provide an adequate and affordable supply of land for new housing stock to meet demand.”
    Senator Day identified where housing is “severely unaffordable” as policy failures, commenting that two years of strong housing construction will not fix a decade of bad public policy.
    Senator Day identified as serious problem refusals by local and state governments with their land management agencies to provide adequate and affordable supplies of land for new housing stock.
    There is a similar situation around Alice Springs.
    Senator Day needs we need to recognise that NT shortages for housing and commercial activities have ongoing problems with the Commonwealth’s Aboriginal Land Rights (NT) where land councils and land trusts remain obstructive towards rational leases.
    Rational developments depend upon rational leases.
    NT suffers from ALR(NT) problems, these created by and thus dependent upon Commonwealth legislative fixes.
    Else there will need to be a never-ending flow of Commonwealth funds.
    Similar problems are within the AP lands of South Australia.
    Why is there no similar flow of Commonwealth monies, exemptions, and incentives, available to ordinary Australians struggling to improve things for themselves?

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