The first house in Homes Tasmania’s Statewide Family Homes program has been completed in Rokeby, four months ahead of schedule.
The three-bedroom home is the first of 25 larger social housing properties being built across the state under the program, which is funded through round two of the federal government’s Housing Australia Future Fund.
It is also the first home nationally to be completed under the funding program’s second round.
Housing and Planning Minister Kerry Vincent said a family would be allocated the home this week.
“While most applicants on the Housing Register need smaller homes, there are also a number of Tasmanian families who need a larger home,” he said.
Vincent said 83% of people on the housing register were looking for one and two-bedroom units, but 17% needed three, four or five-bedroom homes.
The remaining 24 homes in the program are already under construction and expected to be finished by late next year.
Vincent said the home had been designed with accessibility in mind, including a removable shower screen for disabled access.
“We can build a lot of homes which are not cookie-cutter homes anymore,” he said.
“They’re actually well-designed, well-laid-out, thoughtful, low-maintenance homes.”
Federal Franklin MP Julie Collins said the project was part of a broader $47 billion national housing plan from the feds.
“Since coming to office, we’ve now invested over $800 million in over 1,000 social and affordable homes here in Tasmania to house more Tasmanians,” she said.
“This is about getting more homes on the ground more quickly and we need to see more of it here in Tasmania and right across the country,” she said.
Ben Wilson from Homes Tasmania said demand existed for all types of housing across the state.
“There is a combination of 1, 2, 3s and 4 bedrooms that are all required everywhere across the state right at the moment,” he said.
Wilson said opportunities for land and development were being explored right across Tasmania, including closer to Hobart.
He pointed to the New Norfolk area as a “fantastic opportunity” for mixed development including social housing and affordable home ownership.
Rokeby is one of several areas identified for significant housing growth, with the state government last year expanding urban growth boundaries across greater Hobart to unlock land for “nearly 10,000 new homes”.
Vincent said the housing waitlist remained under significant pressure due to changing economic circumstances.
“The simple fact is we need to build more homes quicker and more efficiently,” he said.
He said Homes Tasmania had done substantial work analysing which areas of the state needed homes and what types were most in demand.
