JULIE COLLINS:
Thank you, and thank you for that very warm Welcome to Country and I want to start by acknowledging the traditional owners on whose land we meet. But importantly, I want to reiterate the Albanese Labor Government's commitment to the Uluru Statement from the Heart in full, and indeed to the Voice and the referendum which will take place later this year.
It's a real privilege to be with you on your country here in Victoria, and to be with the State Minister Colin Brooks, the Minister for Housing, but also the local member Ryan Batchelor. We're here today with HousingFirst. HousingFirst have done a great project here in East Brighton. What we're seeing today is what we want to see a lot more of right around the country. What we're seeing here today is the opening of 36 wonderful apartments for older Australians over 55. This is a joint project between the federal government, the state government, and indeed the community housing sector. These types of developments are what we need more of right across Australia. We need more of these in every corner right around the country, and that's what our government wants to get on and do. We, of course, are investing in this property in terms of the federal government's investment through the National Housing Finance Investment Corporation ‑ $9 million through concessional loans, and indeed partially a grant from the Commonwealth Government.
But we can't do this on our own, and that's why partnerships with state governments and with other tiers of government are so important, as well as with the community housing sector. These are the type of projects that we want to see under the Housing Australia Future Fund that is currently stuck in the Senate and being blocked. What we need is for some of our senators ‑ particularly our Green senators, our Liberal senators and our National senators ‑ to get out of the way in the Senate so that we can get more of these developments up and running right across the country. Indeed, the community housing sector says between 8000 and 12,000 properties are not under construction today because that bill was blocked in the Senate. What we know is that every day of delay after 1 July is $1.3 million that is not going into housing projects around the country.
We're also, of course, in the meantime getting on with building houses like we are here today. And, of course, like we will through the Social Housing Accelerator, which is a joint project with the state governments. And here in Victoria, the Commonwealth Government has provided the Victorian Government with $496.5 ‑ I'm told by the Minister ‑ million dollars. That point five is very important, and I look forward to that partnership with the Victorian Government on how we invest that additional funding, on top of the funding through the National Housing and Homelessness Agreement with the states to get more of these types of properties up around the country. And I acknowledge, of course, the Victorian Government is also doing a power of work on its own in terms of investing in more social and affordable housing around the country.
But as I've said, this is just the start. We want to be seeing a lot more of these. If our Housing Australia Future Fund gets through the Senate, we'll be able to invest half a billion dollars each and every year in perpetuity in more of these projects right around the country. Thanks for having us today. It's been a real privilege to meet with you, and I want to congratulate the members of HousingFirst and the board and the chair for the important work. But importantly, also, everybody that's made this project happen ‑ from the residents to the architects, to the designers, to the builders ‑ everybody right across the board that has put their heart and soul into making this a beautiful place to live. Thank you.
COLIN BROOKS:
Thanks very much. My name is Colin Brooks. I’m the Minister for Housing here in Victoria, and it's a great pleasure to be here with you all today. Can I start by acknowledging traditional owners and pay my respects to elders past and present, and thank you very much for that warm Welcome to Country. To Julie Collins, the Minister for Housing at the federal level, to my hard working parliamentary colleague here in the Victorian Parliament Ryan Bachelor, who's really passionate about housing and social housing in particular, and Jana Stewart, the Senator as well ‑ I'm sorry, Jana, just noticed you're here. Also to Haleh Homaei, the CEO of HousingFirst, and all of the team from HousingFirst and the team from Homes Victoria that are here as well. I see Michael Smith, and I think Camille Kingston was going to try and get here as well.
This is a fantastic opening of this building. But just as importantly, to turn the site on the next stage of development here is just wonderful. I want to commend everybody that's been involved in getting this development to the stage it's at right now. It's so important that we're delivering more social and affordable housing for people just like the residents, the wonderful residents we’ve just met in some of the buildings, some of this building upstairs and it's really when you have that personal conversation with residents of social housing, people who live in these buildings, and understand how important it is to have a modern energy efficient, accessible home for people. And when you see that older stock which is certainly been much loved and done a good job, ‑ built in 1972, I think, most of the buildings on this site, so makes me feel a bit old because I’m a bit older than that myself. But it's time for that to be replaced with modern buildings like this one here. This is part of an investment that the state government's making right across the state. So we've invested over $48 million in this particular project. It's part of our $5.3 billion Big Housing Build, which has been running for a couple of years now and is already adding thousands of new homes to our social housing stock and also some affordable housing right across Victoria.
When the Big Housing Build was announced in 2020, we didn't have a partner in Canberra. There were no ministerial council meetings for the housing ministers. There was no funding for social housing coming from the federal government. And what we've got now with the Albanese Labor Government is a partner in social housing development. We see that with a package that's been put to the Senate, which has shamefully been blocked in the Senate. We've just seen the findings from the Robodebt Royal Commission, and some really shameful behaviour from politicians and how they've treated vulnerable Australians. And to think those same people are still blocking social and affordable housing funding in the Senate makes my blood boil. So on the upside, we've seen the federal government step around that and deliver recently $2 billion to the states to get on and do more social and afford social housing right across the country. And so we're feverishly putting plans in place on how we can best utilise that funding. So I want today publicly to thank the Minister for her advocacy and her funding, and that of the government. We know the Prime Minister is a strong advocate for social housing, and we look forward to maybe inviting yourself and the Prime Minister back to kick off on some of the projects we're going to put that Accelerator funding to, Minister.
I want to commend the team at HousingFirst, a mission driven organisation. Community Housing organisations like HousingFirst are so important to our Big Housing Build, partnering with us, making sure that residents are looked after. And one of the really important things that I think was the way that residents who have moved out of a development, which you know is disruptive and difficult, and then have come back and settled into their new surroundings. It's been really heartening, and I want to thank particularly Diane and John for allowing us to go in and have a look at the new homes and having a chat. So well done to everyone at HousingFirst, and thanks again to the federal government for their support.
HALEH HOMAEI, HOUSINGFIRST CEO:
Thank you, Minister, thank you. We have put good weather for you (laughter). So welcome again, and thank you everyone for joining us today and making the time. And Janet, thank you so much for Welcome to the Country. That was very generous of you. Thank you. I'm delighted to be able to celebrate with you today the first of two important milestone steps on the way to our new Halcyon village. Step one is complete, and the wonderful building you see behind me houses 36 housing residents who have just moved into the brand‑new homes. But we're also celebrating the commencement of step two, construction of two more wonderful new buildings where next year we will welcome back our remaining housing residents, as well as more than 80 additional over 55 residents drawn from the Victorian Housing Register to their brand‑new homes.
I wanted to share with you today a little bit about history of Halcyon. The original Halcyon senior citizens village was built in 1974 ‑ I think Minister mentioned ‘72, but it's ‘74. Apologies for that. 69 affordable rental homes for older people, living in a village community run by a private philanthropic foundation board. In 2017, Halcyon board acknowledging the buildings had reached the end of their lifestyle and needed to be replaced, wanted to redevelop the site and modernise the village and, most importantly, create more homes for older people in the area. HousingFirst was so proud to be chosen and entrusted by the Halcyon board to maintain and build on the legacy it had created ‑ a place for all the members of the Bayside community to live in comfort, safety, peace and harmony. And in case you didn't know, the word Halcyon means just that: calm, peaceful and tranquil.
There are so many people who have worked on this to happen and I would like to specially extend a thank you to the Victorian Government, the National Housing Finance and Investment Cooperation, HousingFirst ‑ our board, our development team and our housing services staff. The Halcyon board, under the former chair Michael and some of the board directors are here today, I understand ‑ so great, great to have you here. Minicon as partners with building these amazing buildings for us. Thank you. And our architects and designers, H20 and Stantec. I also want to acknowledge the wonderful Halcyon residents who have cooperated so graciously with us, as we have disrupted their peace and tranquillity and routines, while we make this place a better place for them.
I want to acknowledge your ongoing efforts, Minister Collins, in pushing forward with your federal housing initiatives ‑ including the Housing Australia Future Fund ‑ against considerable odds, which we all know and we see it on the news every single day. Your persistence and resilience, and that of our Prime Minister and your Cabinet colleagues, are an inspiration. And I want to thank you, and also say, please, please keep going. And Minister Brooks, the Victorian Government and Homes Victoria have been incredibly progressive in driving housing supply through the Big Housing Build and other programmes. Our organisation and our sector are deeply grateful for your support and the trust you have placed in us. And despite all the barriers and hurdles we all are facing at the moment in trying to increase housing supply in challenging times, we should pause and take inspiration from projects like this. When private sector philanthropy joins forces with community housing sector and the support from all three levels of government ‑ local, state and federal ‑ then really good things can and do happen. I'm very proud that HousingFirst is part of such a project at Halcyon, and I'll look forward having a visit here again in a year or so to see the fully completed Halcyon village and community in all its glory. Thank you for being here.
JOURNALIST:
I understand the housing statement is forthcoming, but are you able to tell Victorians how the state will be spending its share of the social housing fund?
BROOKS:
It's a really good problem to have, is how to spend $496.5 million. So we’re really grateful to the federal government for investing in social housing in Victoria, and of course right across the country. We're currently working through an implementation plan with the federal government, so we'll have more to say in the next few weeks.
JOURNALIST:
It's not gonna provide a lot of comfort to first home owners, or people struggling to pay their rent at the moment. Can you provide a little, can you shed a bit more light?
BROOKS:
At the moment, we're delivering the Big Housing Build. So there's already $5.3 billion being invested in social housing across the state. So that's seen thousands of new social dwellings being built in every corner of our state. So this is a great example of that investment ‑ as I said before, $48.9 million here in this particular investment. So we’re doing a lot now as the state government, and I said, now we’ve got a partner in Canberra we’ll be able to do a lot more.
JOURNALIST:
And this one’s on the Bendigo Commonwealth Games village. Are you planning to increase the number of apartments set to be built at the future Bendigo Commonwealth Games village? We’re being told high density in some parts of the region will form part of the upcoming housing statement.
BROOKS:
I’m not briefed. I’m not the Minister responsible for the Games village, so unfortunately I can come back to you, if you want, with some further detail.
JOURNALIST:
One more? It's been revealed in The Age today that inspectors are signing off on quality and safety of roofs on the thousands of newly constructed homes from the footpath. Is that good enough? Is an investigation warranted?
BROOKS:
So I know we’ve got a new CEO of the organisation, Victorian Building Authority, and the ministers are working through some reforms of that organisation and will have more to say about that in the future.
JOURNALIST:
Finally, the Ashburton ‑ the Markham Avenue housing development, Ashburton – is it finished? The Council says it is. There are supposedly 111 social houses in there. How many of them have been tenanted?
BROOKS:
There’s at least 60 that have been tenanted, I’m advised, and the rest are in the process of being tenanted. We would have liked to have had it open earlier, but the Liberals and the Greens blocked it in the upper house in the Victorian parliament. So just like the HAFF in the federal parliament, we’d like them to get out of the way so we can get on and build more social housing.
JOURNALIST:
How long until it’s full?
BROOKS:
As soon as possible.
JOURNALIST:
And is that the only thing holding it up?
BROOKS:
In Markham? Yeah, for example, I know there’s been a number of offers made to people, tenancy offers who have then not been able to take up those offers. They’ve decided to not take them up. There’s a process involved. We don’t force people to move into homes, so that's a process that takes some time.
JOURNALIST:
And apologies, the recent money for Victoria as part of the $2 billion announced for social housing, will this build more homes on top of the Vic Government's $5 billion housing fund, or will it be absorbed into state governments bottom line?
COLLINS:
This will build more homes here in Victoria, and also right across the country. As you've heard from the Victorian Minister, we're getting implementation plans from states and territories. We're talking about $2 billion nationwide. That money needs to be invested or contracted within two years. What we want to see is more social housing right across the country from that funding.