Damning report questions what counts as a home in Tasmania's 10,000-home target

The outgoing Homes Tasmania body has been found to be vulnerable due to its debt level. (ABC News: Luke Bowden) A review has found Homes Tasmania relies too heavily on spreadsheets and faces significant financial risks due to rising debt. The report also criticised how the government defines and counts a home as part of its 10,000-homes target. Homes Tasmania will be wound up, with housing policy and delivery shifting to a new Building Tasmania department, starting in July. Link copiedShareShare articleTasmania's soon-to-be-axed state housing authority relies too heavily on spreadsheets, and has "significant financial vulnerabilities" due to its debt level, a financial review has found. The KPMG report on Homes Tasmania, released on Tuesday as a parliamentary budget hearing on housing began, made 15 recommendations and noted problems with transparency and effective decision-making. The report criticised the government and Homes Tasmania for what it counts as a delivered home towards its goal of "10,000 social and affordable homes". Homes Tasmania's latest "performance snapshot" said that at the end of April, the government had completed 4,854 homes out of 10,000. The recommendations of the report will apply to the new Building Tasmania department. (Supplied: Cheney Constructions) Of these, 2,207 have been social housing or supported accommodation. Counted among the delivered homes are 149 lots of land and 1,244 homes purchased with the government's shared equity scheme, as well as 119 crisis units and 1,135 affordable rentals. The KPMG report found there was "a lack of an agreed and widely accepted definition" of what should count as a home. "Without a widely accepted definition, there is a risk of inconsistent reporting, misaligned expectations among stakeholders, and challenges in communicating progress transparently," it reads. The report also noted Homes Tasmania's financial systems and modelling relied "heavily on spreadsheets", which created "operational inefficiencies and risks of human error". "The modelling approach often uses generic assumptions that lack connection to granular property- or region-specific data," it reads. New social housing units in North Hobart. (ABC News: Maren Preuss) "Key variables like project costs, sale pricing, and market demand are applied uniformly, potentially skewing forecasts and constraining informed decision-making." KPMG recommended a new system to allow for "granular property-level data integration, improving visibility into project-specific costs and revenues". Earlier this year, the government announced plans to end Homes Tasmania, a statutory authority that operates outside of direct departmental control, with its own board. A new infrastructure department, Building Tasmania, will soon be responsible for housing policy and delivery. It followed the government receiving a draft copy of KPMG's report late last year, and inaugural CEO Eleri Morgan-Thomas departing the organisation. In the final version of the report, recommendations included developing a business case for a contemporary financial management system, strengthening governance, and increasing the supply of developable land. Felicity Hirst has been on Tasmania's social housing list for 3.5 years, which is as long as the state's housing authority Homes Tasmania has existed. It also recommended a long-term funding framework, and leveraging Commonwealth funding for home building. In the report, KPMG found the organisation's "reliance on debt funding creates significant financial vulnerabilities". It recommended finding more revenue, through encouraging shared equity scheme participants to buy out the government, and expanding land sale programs. Homes Tasmania currently has $546 million in debt, and forecasts reaching $1.28 billion in debt by 2030-31. The report noted an inconsistency between Homes Tasmania's own debt estimates, and those from Treasury. "This may be due to the evolving nature of Homes Tasmania's modelling … but highlights the importance of robust systems to inform decision-making."

Damning report questions what counts as a home in Tasmania's 10,000-home target

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