Victoria’s urgent social housing waitlist passes 40,000 threshold
05.10.26
Victoria’s priority social housing waitlist has passed 40,000 households, a five-year high, sparking urgent calls for a blitz of construction for public and community housing. The latest Victorian Housing Register figures show 40,857 households on the priority waitlist – up almost 7 per cent on the same time last year. The waitlist has increased by 22.9 per cent over the last five years. Ahead of next month’s state election, Council to Homeless Persons (CHP) is urging all political parties to commit to building 80,000 public and community homes over the next decade. The priority waitlist has 33,253 new applications and 7,604 transfer applications from existing social housing tenants. Homes Victoria reserves priority access for people in urgent need of housing, including people who are experiencing homelessness or escaping family violence. Wait times are also blowing out. This year’s State Budget estimated a person leaving family violence is waiting an average of 18.6 months for social housing, close to double the government’s target of 10.5 months. Across all categories, there are 68,971 applications waiting for social housing in Victoria. CHP’s 2025 Housing Insecurity Index estimated Victoria’s entire social housing stock at around 90,400 homes, which means the priority waitlist is equivalent to about 45 per cent of every social home currently existing in the state. CHP CEO Deborah Di Natale said every one of the households on the priority list had been assessed as urgently needing a home. “Passing 40,000 households is a grim milestone. Despite being assessed as urgently needing social housing, these individuals and families are in some cases waiting years – a dangerously unacceptable situation,” she said. “When a woman leaving family violence has to wait more than a year and a half for a safe, secure home, the system is completely broken and the consequences could be dire. “The only solution is to build our way out of this crisis. Victoria has languished at the bottom of the ladder for social housing in Australia for far too long. We need our politicians to meet this crisis head on and commit to a public and community housing building blitz. “It’s an indictment on our wealthy society that tens of thousands of our most vulnerable people are acknowledged to need urgent housing, but then left without hope.” CHP’s Election Platform calls on the next Victorian government to commit to a Public and Community Housing Building Blitz delivering 80,000 additional homes over the next ten years, with a clear pipeline of interim milestones and a sustained and significant increase in public housing. “Sadly, the crisis is out of control, but that doesn’t mean it’s impossible to fix. There is a clear pathway to drastically cutting the waitlist and it starts with serious commitments to building 80,000 public and community homes over a decade,” Ms Di Natale said. “The Government’s own independent advisor Infrastructure Victoria has said a build of this scale is possible. “Obviously the almost 70,000 families and individuals waiting for a home benefit, but it’s also a critical step to solve the wider housing crisis and easing the pressure on so many other public services. In fact, analysis shows building more social housing is good for our economy. It’s the minimum we should be doing.” Contact: Matt Coughlan 0400 561 480 / matt@hortonadvisory.com.au |