Vulnerable Tasmanians to be kicked out of Showgrounds while Liberals sit on their hands

The Liberal Government’s lack of action to fix the state’s housing crisis is continuing to hurt vulnerable Tasmanians.

Close to 20 Tasmanians living in short and medium-term accommodation at the Hobart Showgrounds will be evicted tomorrow and forced to move on to even less suitable housing options.

David Farnell is one Showgrounds resident facing eviction tomorrow.

He hasn’t got a house to go to, and has no choice but to move to a campground.

To make things worse, David has been in and out of hospital, and a campsite away from easy access to health services is not an acceptable housing solution.

The Government has known for the better part of a year that the Showgrounds redevelopment was about to commence, and should have acted sooner. Now they aren’t acting at all.

Hobart Showgrounds management wrote to the Minister about finding suitable alternative accommodation for these people twice. The first letter took five months before Minister Barnett responded, and the second letter has not even garnered an acknowledgement.

The Liberals continue to sit on their hands when it comes to addressing Tasmania’s housing crisis.

The latest Housing Dashboard figures show the government delivered only 17 new housing properties in December 2022.

This is over 80 per cent short of their monthly target if they want to live up to their promise of building 10,000 homes in a decade.

Last week it was also revealed that 215 social housing homes across the state sit empty because they are untenantable.

A Labor Government would not have neglected these people, and importantly we would, as a matter of urgency, fix up these 215 homes so Tasmanians doing it the toughest can find appropriate housing.

Originally published January 30, 2023