A community housing professional with 25 years’ experience in the sector has expressed the immediate need for a federal housing minister and a Bega Valley services hub.
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Sapphire Coast Tenancy Scheme CEO Sue Ogier raised the issues after Wednesday’s housing and homelessness roundtable at Club Bega. Ms Ogier said it was disappointing staff from organisations like South East Women and Children's Services, who deal with youth homelessness, are being forced to work out of a car.
It’s not just housing availability that is the issue, but the economics around it.
- Labor Senator Doug Cameron
She said a centrally located housing “hub” is needed in the region. The idea would allow for all services and organisations in the sector to be available to residents in a single building, she said.
“We all need to work together. The Bega Valley Shire is such a large shire, and very isolating for people in places like Bermagui and Eden,” Ms Ogier said.
While Corangamite MP Sarah Henderson is currently assistant housing minister, Ms Ogier said more needs to be done in streamlining what is becoming an increasingly complex sector.
According to the 2016 Census, the Bega-Tathra region has the highest rate of homelessness on the South Coast.
In April, the Planning Institute of Australia said a dedicated housing department is necessary to tackle the “big housing and planning challenges facing our cities, towns, and regions”.
Wednesday’s roundtable was hosted by Labor's housing and homelessness spokesman Senator Doug Cameron, and organised by Bega’s Country Labor candidate Leanne Atkinson.
Mr Cameron, who was raised in public housing, said long-term secure housing should not be seen as a ”luxury” but a human right, and criticised the 2013 axing of the National Housing Supply Council, which monitored housing demand, supply and affordability.
He said negative gearing and capital gains tax reform would also help the sector.
“It’s not just housing availability that is the issue, but the economics around it,” Mr Cameron said.
Mr Cameron said he has met with Australian Bankers' Association CEO Anna Bligh and will discuss the future of banking and its possible role in the housing sector with her following the banking royal commission.
“I’m trying to play the banks off against the super funds to make sure that they put some money into housing and homelessness.”