Couple raising baby in tent ‘concerning’ says Treasurer Rita Saffioti, amid vow to spend on housing supply

Treasurer Rita Saffioti has admitted the case of a young couple raising their 10-week old baby in a tent amid Perth’s rental crisis is “very concerning,” but would not commit to any further assistance packages for renters in the upcoming State budget. The West revealed Saturday that Tia-Rose Hutchins, 25, and her partner Callum Adam, 27, were raising their baby Onyx in a campervan tent, which they moved every few days. The couple have been in the distressing situation for the last six weeks since they lost their $600 per week Balcatta rental because the owner wanted to sell. The lack of space has meant Mr Adam had to send his two primary school-aged children from a previous relationship to live with relatives and Ms Hutchins felt forced to do the same. Reacting to the couple’s situation on Saturday, Ms Saffioti said it was “very concerning” and said housing supply shortages were being felt across the country. “We’ve injected billions of dollars into supporting more housing and also supporting renters who are at risk of being evicted,” the minister said. “The Government is doing everything possible to increase housing supply, and in particular, getting more smaller houses built quicker to address the shortage of housing.” Ms Saffioti did not, when asked, commit to any further assistance packages in the State budget in May, but promised it would include “further announcements to support housing supply”. The Treasurer, who is also Deputy Premier, pointed to the Government’s $24.4M Rent Relief Program, announced in November, that offered up to $5000 to help with rent in arrears, or for vulnerable tenants to pay future rent costs. “That program is supporting hundreds of people, currently, to help them access some assistance if they’re facing eviction. We’ll continue to support families who face eviction,” Ms Saffioti said. “We’re also trying to free up homes that have been used as Airbnbs to the long term rental market. So far about 130 homes have been activated to enter the normal rental market.” Shadow housing spokesman Steve Martin said the couple’s story reflected the Government’s failure on social housing since it came to power in 2017. “It is unacceptable that this family have been on the Government’s social housing wait list for three years and are now forced to live in a tent,” the Liberal MLC said. “Tia-Rose is one of the almost 36,000 Western Australians on the Labor Government’s social housing waitlist. If her family isn’t a priority to be housed, who is? “Recent Parliamentary questions revealed Labor has added only 114 homes to the stock of social homes in seven years. Is it any wonder the wait list continues to escalate?” Housing Minister John Carey has previously defended the Government’s record on social housing delivery, saying the previous Liberal Government’s stock included dilapidated dwellings that Labor was forced to demolish, taking them out of the system. According to the Real Estate Institute of WA, Perth’s rental vacancy rate plunged to a record-low 0.4 per cent in March, as less than 2000 properties were on the market. A balanced rental market would usually see the rate hover between 2.5 and 3.5 per cent.