Albany family takes to York Street to plead for help in shocking example of WA housing crisis

Sitting on York Street with a huge white sign pleading for help, Albany grandmother Diane Northern was a damning symbol of WA’s housing crisis. After turning to local services and her MP, the 75-year-old took to Albany’s main street on Tuesday, desperate to find a house for Kylie Morton, the mother of her granddaughter. Ms Morton and her four children are living in one room at Ms Northern’s tiny home, and now two of the young girls have tested positive for COVID-19. “I’m just making people see,” Ms Northern said. “There are so many roads being built, trains being built, but no houses for people. They haven’t cared about the people. “The Government isn’t doing anything ... I have written letters to McGowan because his child was sick, and I’ve not heard anything. “We need a house. That is all we need — a house.” Ms Morton has been homeless since she fled Perth in September after escaping domestic violence. With her four girls aged 4-17 and some clothes, she left home and has since been sleeping in the back of her car or staying in a refuge while waiting for public housing. With no one left to turn to, she moved to Albany, wanting to create a new life for her girls. “We ended up coming down here for a new start and we have just not been able to get a house anywhere,” she said. “I wasn’t able to get a house in Perth and have had no luck here. “I did all this crazy stuff in Perth and all this paperwork to get on the priority list for housing, just to be told that you’d probably have to wait years anyway. “Then if you try to get a rental house, you get taken off the list, so you kind of can’t win. It is just extremely, extremely hard.” Figures tabled in State Parliament this week revealed as of April 30 there were 18,837 applications — representing 33,084 people — on WA’s public housing waiting list. This included 4005 priority applications, or 8105 people. This marked an increase of 38 per cent in the number of people waiting to access housing since June 2020. Latest figures from the Real Estate Institute of WA showed Albany had the State’s second-lowest rental vacancy rate in March at 0.7 per cent. The average rental price in Albany was $380 per week, according to Real Estate WA. Ms Morton said she had had no trouble renting in the past, but with no affordable houses available, she had no choice but to wait for a home through the Department of Communities. “The last time I asked, the lady told me they were just housing people that were on the list in 2019,” she said. “And that is what is really starting to worry me now.” The issue has been compounded by skyrocketing living costs in recent months. “It’s horrible and it makes you feel like a failure,” Ms Morton said. “I am a single parent, I don’t work at the moment because I am trying to sort a house, and I am always with my kids. “I live week to week, pay cheque to pay cheque, and that’s just how it is and it sucks — it really sucks. “You just can’t get ahead.” Department of Communities Statewide services executive director Jo McCabe said as of April 30, the average wait time for public housing in Albany was 117 weeks and 55 weeks for priority applicants. “Most applicants for public housing have a roof over their head while they wait to be housed,” she said. “Some applications are deemed to have priority need. “To qualify for priority need, applicants must demonstrate they are eligible for public housing, experiencing barriers in securing or sustaining appropriate housing; and have risk factors/ongoing housing needs caused or aggravated by their current housing situation.” Shadow housing minister Steve Martin this week called for the State Government to “act immediately to alleviate the pressure on the housing waitlist and get the numbers under control”. “In the last month alone, over 211 people have joined the waitlist. However, they will be waiting a long time with a two-to-three-year average wait,” Mr Martin said. “Over 1300 applicants have been waiting over six years to access public housing, and there are no signs of improvement. “There are 10 less homes now than there were in June 2020, but over 9156 more people waiting for a placement.” Housing Minister John Carey last month announced an architect had been appointed to design eight new social units in Spencer Park. “I know there is a need for more social housing and right now we have 30 new homes at various stages of design and construction in the Great Southern, which are expected to be completed over roughly the next 18 months,” he said last month. “We’re exploring opportunities to spot purchase homes for new social housing, with 13 homes spot purchased in the Great Southern so far this financial year to the end of March.”