Tasmanian government urged to do something about housing crisis in island's north-west
ABC News
November 7 2021

Rochelle Gordon has been on the priority public housing waiting list for two-and-a-half years, and she says it is damaging her physical and mental health.

Key points:
Service providers are concerned regional Tasmania is being forgotten amid the island's housing crisis
Rochelle Gordon has been waiting more than two years for public housing, delaying knee replacement surgery three times
There has been no investment in public housing in Circular Head in 20 years
Her private rental in Stanley has uneven floors, a shower over a bath stained with rust, narrow access paths and low doorways, but it's all she can afford.

"Why bother having a priority waiting list?" she said. "[It's] unsuitable, unsafe, I really do need to relocate before I can get a knee replacement done."

The 64-year-old has had to postpone knee replacement surgery three times because her current house isn't a suitable place for recovery.

She has tried to find another rental, but they are thin on the ground.

"Most of them are frightfully expensive. I live on a disability support pension," she said. 

"The other thing is there are no rentals, not that I'm aware of, and if there was a rental it might be miles away from anywhere."

A woman sitting at the table.
Rochelle Gordon's physical and mental health have deteriorated while she waits for an appropriate public housing property to become available.
Ms Gordon also lives with depression, and her two dogs Emily and Charlotte are her lifeline.

She said she is hoping for a place where she can improve her physical and mental health.

"In all fairness, I was offered a unit here but it was too depressing and I turned it down," she said.

"The only reason I get up in the morning is because of the two dogs … there is nowhere for me and my dogs to move to that is safe and secure."

She says moving to another area without her support networks around isn't an option.

"The thing is, I'm connected with this community," she said.

"If there was somewhere suitable to live, I'd cheerfully stay in Stanley forever."


Dianne Baldock said homelessness is a big problem in the Circular Head community.
Interim general manager of the Circular Head Aboriginal Corporation Dianne Baldock said some people would rather face homelessness than move away from Circular Head.

"People don't want to move away because of their family connections and supports that they already have in place," she said.

'Don't forget regional Tasmania'
Circular Head in Tasmania's northwest is facing acute housing pressure, with rental prices jumping by 34 per cent in the past five years according to Real Estate Institute of Tasmania data.   

Rough sleeper calls for public housing waiting list to be addressed
Jason Browne, wearing a cap, standing on the street in front of his car.
Jason Brown has been homeless for almost two years. He's one of many Tasmanians struggling to get by while on the public housing wait list.

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"A lot of older people at the moment are presenting with nowhere to live or being evicted due to high rents," Ms Baldock said.

Average rents have jumped from around $200 a week to $300, but Ms Baldock said they could be as high as $450.

"Four hundred to $450 a week for rent is just outrageous," she said.

Housing stress in Tasmania's major centres has been in the spotlight in recent years as the property market booms.

But Ms Baldock is worried the regions are being forgotten.

"Sometimes we are left off the map and it's really important that the government takes notice of the fact of the homelessness crisis not just in [urban] Tasmania," she said.

More public housing needed
Circular Head Mayor Daryl Quilliam said the rental pressures were adding to the public housing waiting list.

"We haven't had any public housing, or very few public housing for probably 20 years now," he said.   

"We haven't had the need either, but we have got the need now."


Rochelle Gordon has been on the public housing priority waiting list for two and a half years.
Minister for Housing Michael Ferguson said there were 96 public housing properties in the region and $120.6 million has been allocated to fund 58 new dwellings, set to be complete by June 2023.


Hobart housing
The median house price of Hobart's innermost suburbs has surpassed $1 million for the first time, with one real estate agent saying seven-figure price tags are on the way to "becoming the new normal".

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"This will assist in providing housing to the priority cases among the 132 people who have applied for a Housing Tasmania property who have listed the Circular Head region as a residential option," he said.

"The Tasmanian government is committed to building a more sustainable housing system."

Centacare Evolve Housing CEO Ben Wilson said they had worked with the government to identify areas of need.

"Every regional area is seeing demand for new supply, and in particular Circular Head," Mr Wilson said.