Since its announcement in 2018, the Benalla West project’s budget has tripled from $10 million to $30 million, yet progress on delivering crucial social housing remains frustratingly slow.
The $30 million investment is slated to provide only 45 new houses, a figure that doesn’t account for the existing homes already demolished in the area.
This is despite Benalla featuring on nearly 400 priority access location preferences for people seeking social housing.
State Member for Euroa Annabelle Cleeland said the project was failing to meet the ongoing demand for housing in the region.
“Benalla is a key example of the devastating failure of the Allan Labor Government’s response to the housing crisis, with 400 applications from individuals and families desperately seeking a home,” she said.
“Despite the anticipation surrounding the Benalla West project, residents have been left in the dark, with several already displaced from their homes and forced to relocate to neighbouring towns.
“Six years have passed since this project was announced, yet all we’ve witnessed are cost blowouts, while people continue to wait years for a safe and secure home in their own community.
“Sadly, this reflects the broader issue with the government’s handling of housing across the state.
“Despite nearly $4.7 billion spent over the past four years, we have seen no meaningful improvement in housing availability across our region.”
A Victorian Government spokesperson said its record on housing was clear.
“We've delivered thousands of new social and affordable homes across Victoria with thousands more in the pipeline,” they said.
“The Liberal-National Coalition cut millions of dollars in social housing funding last time they were in government and continue to try to block new homes.”
Neighbouring areas reported similar concerns about a lack of new social housing progress, with the Mitchell Shire adding just 30 new properties since 2018, despite Seymour being listed on 365 priority access applications, and the Broadford district featuring on a further 446 applications.
Homes Victoria’s latest figures reveal a record-breaking 51,602 new applications on the state’s housing waitlist, surpassing numbers from the previous three quarters.
Ms Cleeland said addressing social housing in the Benalla region must be taken more seriously, and that government mismanagement was to blame for the ongoing issues.
“We needed this development over a decade ago,” Ms Cleeland said.
“Instead of regularly maintaining the site, this government has waited until the houses were unliveable before demolishing them and starting again at a significant cost.
“Residents in the area have already experienced how Labor let their housing situation get, and it is imperative that this is improved as the Benalla West project is built.”
A Victorian Government spokesperson said its landmark $6.3 billion investment through the Big Housing Build and Regional Housing Fund included $2.25 billion in funding for rural and regional Victoria, which was delivering more than 13,300 additional social and affordable homes right across Victoria — with more than 10,000 already being built or complete.
“We are investing more than $58.5 million in social and affordable housing across the Benalla and Mitchell Shire areas to build 154 homes, with 115 of these already complete,” they said.
In census data from 2021, the area where the Benalla West project is being built was registered as having 54.7 per cent of households listed as being social housing renters.
The next highest proportion of social housing renters in the entire town was found to be just 9.3 per cent.
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