Felicity's Long Wait for a Home

Topic: Rental Housing

Felicity Hirst has been on the social housing waitlist since October 2022.

In short:

Felicity Hirst has been on Tasmania's social housing list for three and a half years.

Homes Tasmania has faced criticism for the slow pace of its delivery of social and affordable homes.

What's next?

Work has begun to restructure Homes Tasmania into a new entity, Building Tasmania. It is the second restructure of the state's housing authority in five years.

Felicity Hirst says she is not too picky about what kind of house she lives in, she just wants one.

The 29-year-old has been on the social housing wait list since October 2022, longer than the state's housing authority Homes Tasmania has existed.

Ms Hirst has a complex heart condition and has been waiting for a heart transplant.

Felicity Hirst lives with a chronic health condition.

As a result, she has made a request to the state housing authority Homes Tasmania to live in the Kingston area to be nearby health services, and to have a house with no stairs.

They said I'd get more choices if I went to houses that had stairs in them, which will eventually make it a bit harder once I have my heart transplant.

By myself, I'd feel more comfortable being closer to the hospital than further out.

While she waits, Ms Hirst and her dog Eva have been living with her parents in Woodbridge, 36 kilometres south of Hobart.

Felicity Hirst lives with her parents at their home in Woodbridge.

The sci-fi fan was also running out of room for her growing memorabilia collection.

The wait has made her mum Leighann Hirst anxious, too.

We all get along very well, but I just want her to be on her own.

Leighann Hirst worries for her daughter Felicity.

According to Homes Tasmania, there were 5,533 people on the social housing wait list at the end of March.

Of those, 702 have been classified as high priority, while Ms Hirst is one of 3,781 standard priority applicants.

I know there are people out there with way worse issues and way more pressing conditions than me, but that's kind of what irritates me.

Mrs Hirst believes that people such as her daughter were being pushed further down the list.

Wait that outlasted housing authority

Recently, the state government announced it would wind up Homes Tasmania and move the responsibility of housing delivery to the newly established department, Building Tasmania.

Premier Jeremy Rockliff said the agency hasn't had the desired results.

For Ms Hirst, unless a home is found for her soon, she will have been on the social housing wait list for the length of time that Homes Tasmania has existed.

There are 5,533 people on the social housing wait list at the end of March 2026.

Labor housing spokesperson Meg Brown said renters such as Ms Hirst have paid the price for the government's inaction.

Homes Tasmania was set up as a statutory authority, operating with its own board and executive but ultimately funded by, and answering to, the government.

At the time of its establishment, then-housing minister Guy Barnett said the old system was antiquated and the new authority would be agile.

But since 2022, the state's housing waitlist has blown out by 20 per cent, and priority applicants have waited an average of 88.1 weeks for a home.

When unveiling plans for the agency, former premier Peter Gutwein also announced to build 10,000 new social and affordable homes.

But just a third of the 10,000 homes will be new social or affordable, completed homes.

Crisis accommodation, vacant land, and established dwellings sold through the MyHome shared equity scheme all count as a delivered home.

Homes Tasmania's remit included building 10,000 new social and affordable homes.

The entity failed to secure federal funding for any of its projects from the first grant round of the Housing Australia Future Fund.

In 2019, fast track legislation was employed to rezone land at Huntingfield, in Hobart's south, for 460 housing lots.

It was not until late 2025 that the first plots hit the market, with the most affordable priced at $295,000.

Last week, the ABC revealed social housing tenants were waiting months for basic repairs to properties, with recurrent issues such as cockroach infestations, constant wet carpet and widespread mould.

In some cases, tenants have sought legal help after Homes Tasmania rejected responsibility.

Political disruption a factor, authority says

Homes Tasmania's inaugural chief executive, Eleri Morgan-Thomas, said political upheaval had impacted the authority's delivery schedule.

An analysis of 12 months of urgent housing and homelessness attendances in Tasmania has shown an alarming spike in people with dependent children needing help.

Ms Morgan-Thomas said between 2020 and 2025, Tasmania's social and affordable rental homes increased by 14.8 per cent, ahead of all other states and territories.

She said the organisation took a holistic approach that was the envy of social housing professionals across the country.

However, independent reviews of the organisation were not so positive.

In a damning 2025 review, former New South Wales' auditor-general Margaret Crawford found Homes Tasmania had been hamstrung by duplicated and confused decision-making and accountability.

Another review of Homes Tasmania has since been undertaken by consulting firm KPMG.

In the months following KPMG's interim report, Ms Morgan-Thomas departed Homes Tasmania.

The Tasmanian government has refused to release the interim report and has rejected a Right to Information request for it by the ABC.

Homes Tasmania a 'folly'

Housing Industry Association's executive director Ben Price said builders had found it incredibly difficult engaging with Homes Tasmania.

Benjamin Price says there is a disconnect between the state government and the housing authority.

Mr Price said Homes Tasmania had focused too much on gold-plated housing, rather than delivering on quantity.

What we know loud and clear from the community is we need more social and more affordable housing right across the state.

Independent Franklin MP David O'Byrne, who has been an outspoken critic of Homes Tasmania, said the body will be remembered as an absolute folly and diversion tactic.

When you're in the middle of a crisis, you don't just throw up your hands and remove responsibility further away from your control.

Mr O'Byrne says hundreds of families in his electorate are in desperate need of housing.

Mr O'Byrne said he was aware of hundreds of families in his electorate who were in desperate need of housing.

A barrage and massive numbers being thrown at the community, deliberately designed to confuse them about what is actually happening.

Building Tasmania to report to minister

Housing Minister Kerry Vincent pointed to the escalating cost of construction for some of the authority's failings.

That's put a lot of pressure on a lot of people to try to make sure those numbers are right and affordable and that continual financing between federal and state governments is always a juggling act.

Artificial intelligence will be recruited to speed up assessments of housing and energy projects waiting for environmental approval.

Mr Vincent said much of the work done by Homes Tasmania over the past two to three years was starting to come to fruition now.

An escalation of land coming on sale, with projects, with a lot more communication with the federal government who have been extremely cooperative and supportive with a lot of the programs … in delivering more.

Mr Vincent said responsibility for the new Building Tasmania would sit directly with him as the relevant minister.

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