Today’s Greater Hobart Homelessness Alliance 3 Year Forum is another good example of how all levels of government are working together to tackle homelessness in our community.
We know that homelessness can affect anyone due to changes in circumstances or life events, such as family breakdown, mental illness, trauma, or our young people moving to adult independence.
At today’s Forum, we had the opportunity to discuss what initiatives have been put in place to address homelessness in Greater Hobart over the past three years, what is working well and what more we could be doing.
The current housing and homelessness challenges facing Tasmanians are complex and to make a difference we need all levels of government, businesses, support and accommodation services to work together.
I want to commend the Hobart City Council for holding this event and I am writing to all local councils across the State opening the door for us to work more closely together to find solutions in their regions, as every region is unique.
While we roll out our plan to build or acquire 10,000 new homes over the next 10 years, we know there are people who need support right now.
That’s why we are investing $36 million each year on wrap around and support services.
In addition, $6.9 million is provided specifically for our Safe Spaces and connected support services. We added another 22 beds to our Safe Spaces in June 2022 for the winter period in response to feedback, and now have up to a total of 40 beds each night in Hobart.
This funding provides a range of options for those who need support right now, included brokered and supported accommodation in addition to shelters, to best suit the needs of the individual.
We are delivering on our 10 year, $1.5 billion plan with 1500 new homes to be completed by June 2023.
While delivering long-term, stable homes, this program of work also includes increasing our supported accommodation and crisis facilities to help those in need right now.
Every Tasmanian deserves a roof over their head, and we have a comprehensive approach to addressing homelessness and housing stress across the State.
More Media Releases from Guy Barnett
More Media Releases from the Minister for State Development, Construction and Housing