Putting people at the centre

The Housing Connect Front Door service, delivered by Anglicare Tasmania, is working hard to reach people most at risk of housing insecurity and homelessness.

Anglicare today released a snapshot of the Housing Connect Front Door service from October-December 2024. During this period, the service responded to a total of 10,723 enquiries from over 5,400 families and individuals.

Anglicare also expanded the Front Door’s outreach to bring housing information and supports to people leaving prison, Tasmanians with mental and physical health challenges, and those in regional areas.

The snapshot showed an increase in the number of people in employment who sought housing support. “It is well known that our State has a significant shortage of affordable housing compared to demand,” said the coordinator of Anglicare’s Social Action and Research Centre, economist Mary Bennett. “But what we are seeing now is that even paid employment does not guarantee housing security”.

Ms Bennett said the quarter saw a rise in the number of households who contacted Housing Connect for the first time. “There were many people asking for support to ‘get through a rough patch,’ she explained. There was a 67% increase in the number of two-parent families with children who accessed housing support in Oct-Dec.

Vacancy rates in the private rental market were critically low throughout the quarter: less than 1% in all regions. “A rate below 3% indicates that the number of people wanting rental properties is higher than the number available,” said Ms Bennett. “Rents also continued to increase faster than incomes”.

There was significant unmet demand for social housing. At the end of the December quarter, the number of applications on the social housing register was 4,866 – a net increase of 3.3% between June and December 2024. The wait time for priority applicants was over 1 year and 7 months in December. Although the wait time is falling, it is still higher than it was 12 months ago. During the December quarter, the Housing Connect Front Door assisted people to make 1248 new social housing applications.

Anglicare has called on the Tasmanian Government to urgently increase its investment in long-term social housing. It has also recommended Government do more to reduce the harmful impacts of waiting for social housing, and to refine its reporting and measurement of progress against the Tasmanian Housing Strategy.

Read the snapshot here.

Background

The Housing Connect Front Door is the entry point for housing assistance in Tasmania. It is where people can get information about housing options and other supports. It can assist people to apply for social housing or to secure or maintain a private rental tenancy.

Anglicare delivers this service from its offices in Hobart, Launceston, Devonport and Burnie, as well as providing outreach at various community locations.

The Housing Connect Front Door does not make decisions about how social housing is allocated to people waiting for a home. Homes Tasmania manages the Housing Register in Tasmania.