People waiting for social housing in Melbourne's booming outer south-east are six times less likely to find it than people in the inner-west, according to analysis from Victoria's Community Housing Industry Association (CHIA).
The analysis of properties as of June 2021 showed the five Local Government Areas with the most social housing were all in the inner-city: Yarra, Port Philip, Melbourne, Darebin and Moonee Valley.
Out of the five areas with the least social housing stock, three were in the outer suburbs: Cardinia, Melton and Yarra Ranges, along with Manningham and Glen Eira in the east.
Cardinia, in the outer south-east, has just 423 social housing properties, compared to 5,613 in inner-city Yarra, or 2,664 in Maribyrnong, in the inner-west.
CHIA chief executive, Sarah Toohey, said historically, there had been more social housing in the inner-city, but now the demand was everywhere and supply needed to keep up.
"Housing stress and housing affordability is not restricted to any one location," she said.
"The population of Cardinia and Maribyrnong are pretty similar but you've got six times more social housing in the City of Maribyrnong, so if you're facing housing crisis in Cardinia, you're six times less likely to get a roof over your head when you need it."
She said it was really important for people to be able to access social housing locally.
"If you find yourself really struggling with housing costs and affordability in Cardinia, you should be able to remain in that community, keep your kids in that school," she said.
'It's very important to remain connected'
David Jetson understands the need for social housing across Melbourne so that people can stay living in their community.
He has been on the housing waitlist since 2005, sleeping on friends' couches, with his mother and in shared accommodation in Essendon, in Melbourne's north-west.
"The place I've been in for the past few years is in very, very bad conditions," he said.
"We've had several weeks of no running water, we had a stove intermittently not working, it's only partially working now, [there are] cracks in the walls," he said.
"But it's a roof over my head and that's a lot better than some people have."
He wants to stay around Melbourne's north-west to north-east, where he has a local doctor and good friends.
"These are people who support me, some of them are the people whose floors I slept on when I needed it," he said.
"It's very important to remain connected – and I've got a community who I love, people who I truly care for and who care for me, and if I'm too far away from them, I get really isolated and it's really bad for my mental health."
Government data shows the number of people waiting for social housing is growing.
In March this year, there were 64,304 households on the waitlist for social housing across Victoria, up from 59,078 in March 2021.
New housing planned — including in the outer suburbs
There are efforts to reduce the waitlists — including the Victorian government's $5.3 billion infrastructure initiative, which aims to build 12,000 social housing homes by 2025.
On a busy road in Melbourne's outer south-west, construction work is coming to a close on a six-storey building that will include 74 social housing apartments for about 120 people.
Project Manager David Su, from Unison Housing, said there was a lot of demand for social housing around Werribee.
"Where the demand is, people don't really want to move too far away from those areas so people really want to feel connected with their community," he said.
Industry calls for 20,000 new homes
As part of its pre-election pitch, CHIA is calling on both sides of politics to invest $6 billion over 10 years to build 20,000 new social housing units.
"Social housing isn't just nice to have, it's essential infrastructure, like schools and hospitals and we need to start investing in it the same way," Sarah Toohey said.
"Victoria lags behind the rest of the country with just 3 per cent of our stock as social housing, when the national average is 4.2 per cent.
"To bridge that gap, we need to build around 60,000 new homes over the next decade. This fund would deliver a third of those homes."
In March, the Andrews government dumped its controversial plan to introduce a new housing development tax to help pay for social housing projects, amid fears of a backlash on housing affordability.
Housing Minister Danny Pearson was not available for an interview, but a government spokesperson said the "Big Housing Build" program was well underway, with more than 6,300 homes already completed or underway across Victoria.
"The Andrews government will continue to work with our stakeholders and all levels of government to ensure we can continue to build on the investments we've made and grow the pipeline of social and affordable homes for generations to come," they said.
The Liberal opposition is due to release its housing policy in the next fortnight, but spokesman Richard Riordon says increasing social housing will be part of it.
"We are adding 500 people per quarter to the waitlist," he said.
"There's only one solution: increase supply."
