A renewed commitment to tackle homelessness in Greater Hobart

Published on 19 August 2022

The achievements from the first three years of the Greater Hobart Homelessness Alliance (GHHA) show it has a lot to be proud of but there is still much more to do.

Through collaboration the GHHA has become a critical platform for identifying shared priorities and creating effective partnerships that are delivering real results; including:

• Important conversations about Tasmania’s public housing debt, which contributed to the bold decision by the Commonwealth Government to waive Tasmania’s public housing debt in 2019;
• The creation of collaborative programs such the Safe Space pilot, which through partnership between the City of Hobart, Hobart City Mission and the Salvation Army has delivered over 11,800 bed nights and supported over 1,100 individuals; and
• The creation of the Housing with Dignity Reference Group, which is ensuring the voices of those with lived experience are shaping our approaches to addressing homelessness.

Despite significant efforts from state and federal governments, the demand for public housing continues to increase, with applications rising by 30 per cent over two years since July 2020.

The median housing prices in Greater Hobart have far outstripped the growth in incomes over the same period and current rental vacancies in Hobart are at just 0.5 per cent – the equal second lowest of Australian capital cities.

The results of these factors contribute to homelessness, insecure housing, “bed block” in hospitals and severe detrimental impacts on all our communities and services in our city and state.

Lord Mayor Anna Reynolds welcomed the participation of Ministers Collins and Barnett in the forum, who have both only recently commenced in the housing and homelessness portfolios, and brought renewed commitment and energy to the conversations.

Lord Mayor Reynolds urged all participants of the forum to renew their commitment to the Alliance and to continue to strive to tackle this complex issue.

“By working together we are already having a positive impact on homelessness. Finding solutions together certainly beats working in silos and pointing fingers.” Cr Reynolds said.

“The Alliance has produced some great initiatives but we still have a very significant problem with the affordability of our housing market so we need to do more. I hope today’s discussions will identify some new ideas with big impact where government, community groups and business can work together.”

Background:

Established by the City of Hobart as a result of the Homelessness Crisis Roundtable held in June 2019, the Greater Hobart Homelessness Alliance comprises Greater Hobart Councils, specialist homelessness service providers, State Government, advocacy agencies and people with a lived experience of homelessness.

The Alliance is focused on improving and coordinating the long term strategic and policy settings that impact on homelessness, promoting best practice in service delivery and identifying opportunities to collaborate, share information and resources and to partner at a regional level to achieve better outcomes for people who are homeless or at risk of homelessness.

The Alliance is just one of a suite of actions, including the endorsement by the City of the Affordable Housing and Homelessness Commitment 2021 -2023, that have supported and guided the local response to homelessness.