Shadow Housing Minister claims State Government’s secrecy on advertised tenders a bad sign for Geraldton

Uncertainty surrounds how many public housing properties will be built in Geraldton, with the Opposition claiming the State Government’s refusal to answer questions does not bode well for the Mid West. Shadow housing minister Steve Martin asked a question in Parliament on June 21 about how many tenders for the construction of new social housing builds in Geraldton had been advertised on the TendersWA website in the past year. Mr Martin said the minister’s response left him concerned Geraldton had been forgotten in the State Government’s bid to increase social housing across WA. Housing Minister John Carey stated: “The extraction of information specific for Geraldton would require a significant use of government resources” and the Department of Communities advised it was “not able to provide the information in the time available”. The 2023-24 State Budget included a $450 million commitment to increase social houses around the State by 4000, but the State Government has yet to reveal how many are planned to be built in Geraldton. Mr Martin said the State Government’s hesitancy to release information on what the department was spending in Geraldton made it seem like the city was missing out on social housing and his questions had fallen on deaf ears. “I’ve repeatedly asked in the Parliament for information regarding how many new builds are being tendered in Geraldton and the minister is refusing to answer,” he said. “If it was good news we would be hearing from the minister so I can only assume the numbers are very low.” Mr Martin called on the State Government to release the data. “Local builders are telling me the tap has been turned off and Communities are not building social housing in Geraldton,” he said. “Given the billions of dollars promised for housing in WA, why is Geraldton missing out?’ A Department of Communities spokesperson confirmed 32 social homes were currently under contract or construction in the Mid West-Gascoyne region and 24 social housing dwellings were added to the region in 2021-22. “Communities delivers a large volume of works for social housing through Tenders WA, which includes new builds, maintenance, refurbishments and other works,” the spokesperson said. “This was in response to industry feedback that some small businesses were having difficulty with the complex tender process.” In May, the Geraldton Guardian revealed 143 public housing properties were vacant or boarded up across Geraldton. while 728 people were on the waiting list, desperate for shelter. Mayor Shane Van Styn reiterated calls for the State Government to focus on refurbishing the boarded up social housing that was already established across Geraldton. “The City continues to call on the Department of Communities and Western Power to work together to at least try to bring on as many as the 143 bordered up properties as they can to ease some of the housing shortage,” he said.