Properties sit idle while people wait for housing

The Housing Authority has admitted it plans to sell, demolish or redevelop 31 of its Hedland properties while people on its public housing priority list are waiting an average of more than 18 months for a home.

Housing Minister Colin Holt also recently admitted in Parliament the authority had close to 100 properties in town without public housing tenants occupying them.

Bloodwood Tree assistant chief executive Bob Neville said he was concerned by the revelations at a time when his Bunara Maya Hostel service faced closure, forcing more people onto the streets because of a lack of funding.

The hostel, which houses 17 homeless people, will be forced to close on July 15 after being issued a termination notice by the Housing Authority.

“There are some 17 people who need to be found somewhere to live and that again is the responsibility of the Housing Authority,” Mr Neville said.

“It’s a pretty disgusting situation that we’ve got so many homeless people (in Hedland) and so many vacant homes … they shouldn’t be allowed to sell the houses.”

It comes as figures also show families, of which there are currently 180 who are not prioritised, face an average wait of 163 weeks for their housing application to be filled.

However, Housing Authority service delivery general manager Greg Cash said the department was responding to local needs, adding public housing applicants in Port Hedland were not waiting longer than Perth applicants.

He refuted suggestions 100 public housing properties were sitting vacant with no intention of being used to house eligible people.

“Fifty four properties are vacant and will be returned to stock following renovation, refurbishment or standard maintenance,” he said.

“An additional 31 properties are awaiting demolition, sale or redevelopment.

“A further 14 properties are managed and tenanted by community housing organisations, not the Housing Authority.”

Mining and Pastoral member Stephen Dawson questioned how the authority could justify selling houses when wait lists were so high.

Hedland’s Jan Ford Real Estate licensee Jim Henneberry said it was “not the best time” to put homes on the market because they were competing with a wave of mortgagee sales and added he had homes for sale for as low as $120,000.

REIWA figures show the average median house price in South Hedland was $550,000, with the lower quartile of prices about $367,500.

In the same week as the public housing figures were revealed, figures relating to South Hedland’s Osprey Village revealed occupancy had fallen from 53 per cent, to 45 per cent in three months.