During the eight years of this Labor Government, the number of community homes in WA grew by only 139.

That’s an average increase of just 23 homes a year.

The Labor Government’s dismal record on social housing has left far too many Western Australians homeless or in totally inadequate housing.

A critical lack of housing supply is one of the most significant factors driving Western Australia’s current housing crisis.

Behind every social house Labor has failed to provide over the past eight years is a family struggling to keep a roof over their head while still feeding and clothing their family.

The true extent of the crisis remains unknown because Housing Minister John Carey has refused to reveal the number of Western Australians on the waitlist for public housing.

One thing is sure — over the past eight years, WA Labor has failed to provide enough housing to provide homes for vulnerable Western Australians.

This has led to WA being considered the “rough sleeping capital of Australia.”

The WA Liberals know there are opportunities to increase WA’s social housing stock in a meaningful and sustainable way.

The WA Liberals will work with stakeholder groups to build the capacity of community housing providers to further facilitate the growth of affordable housing stock in WA.

Our state needs a plan to expand the capacity and scope of Community Housing Providers in Western Australia.

Only the WA Liberals will ensure it.

The WA Liberals believe a new approach is needed to deliver more homes and effectively manage social housing in WA.

Making sure every Western Australian has a roof over their head is a fundamental responsibility of the government, and

WA Labor is not meeting that responsibility.

The WA Liberals will directly support our community housing sector by transferring ownership of 1000 newly built public homes to the community housing sector over the next four years and create greater transparency around our state’s housing.

These transfers will allow community housing providers to expand their operations by increasing the asset base against which they can borrow finance, enabling more homes to be provided by the not-for-profit sector.

Assuming an average home value of $500,000, this means increasing the owned assets of community housing providers by $500 million over four years.

To further bolster these community housing providers, we will allocate $6 million to establish a Community Housing Capacity Building program, boosting their efforts to facilitate the growth of affordable housing here in WA.

A thriving community housing sector reduces pressure on the state housing system and allows community housing tenants to receive Commonwealth Rent Assistance, further supporting affordability and leveraging existing opportunities.

We will further support our state housing sector by delivering on currently budgeted social and affordable housing programs.

These measures will work alongside our central housing, infrastructure, and headworks funding initiatives to deliver more affordable housing for WA.

We will also end the secrecy and publish a social housing data dashboard that will be regularly updated on the Department of Communities website.

Western Australians deserve a government committed to transparency around our state’s housing sector and creating public awareness around the true number of Western Australians waiting for a home.

Only the WA Liberal Party is committed to empowering the creation of more social and community housing to build more resilience and capacity in our housing sector.