As housing waitlists continue to grow, local residents requiring social housing are still waiting to see the benefits that the Benalla West project will bring.
Announced back in 2018, the Benalla West project has blown out from $10million to $30 million, with a lack of progress being made on delivering more social housing for those that need it most in the town.
This $30 million is expected to deliver just 45 houses and fails to factor in the houses already being knocked down in the area. This is despite Benalla featuring on nearly 400 priority access location preferences for people seeking social housing.
The Nationals’ Member for Euroa, Annabelle Cleeland, said the project was failing to meet the ongoing demand for housing in the region.
“Benalla is a key example of the devastating failure of the Allan Labor Government’s response to the housing crisis, with 400 applications from individuals and families desperately seeking a home,” Ms. Cleeland said.
“Despite the anticipation surrounding the Benalla West project, residents have been left in the dark, with several already displaced from their homes and forced to relocate to neighbouring towns.
“Six years have passed since this project was announced, yet all we’ve witnessed are cost blowouts, while people continue to wait years for a safe and secure home in their own community.
“Sadly, this reflects the broader issue with the Government’s handling of housing across the state. Despite nearly $4.7 billion spent over the past four years, we have seen no meaningful improvement in housing availability across our region.”
Neighbouring areas reported similar concerns about a lack of new social housing progress, with the Mitchell Shire adding just 30 new properties since 2018, despite Seymour being listed on 365 priority access applications, and the Broadford district featuring on a further 446 applications.
Recent figures from Homes Victoria show 51,602 new applications on the state’s housing waitlist, a number higher than any of the previous three quarters recorded.
Ms Cleeland said addressing social housing in the Benalla region must be taken more seriously, and that government mismanagement was to blame for the ongoing issues.
“We needed this development over a decade ago,” Ms Cleeland said.
“Instead of regularly maintaining the site, this Government has waited until the houses were unliveable before demolishing them and starting again at a significant cost.
“Residents in the area have already experienced how Labor let their housing situation get, and it is imperative that this is improved as the Benalla West project is built.”
In census data from 2021, the area where the Benalla West project is being built was registered as having 54.7 per cent of households listed as being social housing renters. The next highest proportion of social housing renters in the entire town was found to be just 9.3 per cent.