Briefings: Government says it has 'inherited a mess' with housing crisis
The Government says it has "inherited a mess" after newly released figures on the country's housing crisis put the national shortfall at more than 70,000 homes.
It's between 30,000 and 35,000 more than the previous government's housing shortage estimate.
"This is a social and economic disaster for the country," Housing Minister Phil Twyford said today.
"It's quite complex… and it's going to require bold reform on a number of fronts sustained over a number of years."
He was commenting on new details about the scale of the nation's housing crisis set out in a briefing to the incoming minister of housing.
The Government had "inherited a mess", Twyford told reporters at a media stand-up at Parliament today.
"I was shocked to see a shortfall of housing of 71,000 for the country. That's information I'm sure the past government had and chose not to release. But let's be frank about this. The former government was in full scale denial about the sale of the housing crisis.
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Under the previous government the housing shortage had a more conservative estimate of between 35,000 to 40,000.