Dr. Brad Pettitt questions the Minister for Housing regarding the public housing waitlist, specifically concerning application removal and the number of applicants housed. The Minister provides some data but declines to provide specific figures on removals due to resource constraints.

AnsweredQoN 1071Legislative Council
Asked
27 October 2022
Portfolio
Housing

QuestionView source ↗

PUBLIC HOUSING — WAITLIST
1071. Hon
Dr BRAD PETTITT to the Leader of the House representing the Minister for
Housing:
I refer to the public housing
waitlist.
(1) Is it correct
that applicants will be removed from the housing waitlist if they do not renew
their application after a specific period; and, if yes, what is this period?
(2) If yes to (1), how many
applicants on the waitlist were removed for this reason in the past 12 months?
(3) How many applicants on the
waitlist were housed in social housing in the past 12 months?

AnswerView source ↗

I thank the honourable member for
some notice of the question.
(1) The
Department of Communities proactively undertakes an annual review of public
housing applications to ensure that the waitlist remains up to date and able to
meet the needs of applicants who still require social housing, and that the housing is allocated in a way that best
meets applicants' needs. The Department of Communities makes
multiple attempts to establish contact with individuals who have not responded, including through nominated family members
or their next of kin. There are options available to applicants in
instances where their applications have been withdrawn due to no contact.
Applicants may be reinstated and retain their original listing date, so they
are not disadvantaged.
(2) The data requested would require a manual review
of individual files. Given the level of agency resourcing required to
provide this detailed information, it is not considered to be a reasonable use
of government resources.
(3) As at 30
September 2022, the Department of Communities had housed 2 136 applicants from
the public housing waiting list in the past 12 months, including 1 470 priority
applicants. Information for applicants housed in community housing is unavailable,
as these properties are managed by external organisations.

Explore WA Government Data

Search the full archive in the free dashboard, or query programmatically via API.

Explore more