Five months after the fires, and two days after Ms Lovell’s speech in parliament, the government announced it would provide 100 temporary modular homes for people without adequate insurance whose home was significantly damaged or destroyed.
Ms Lovell said that after the Black Saturday fires and the October 2022 floods, there was a rapid and concerted effort to ensure that people in immediate need were given housing.
In this summer’s fires, over 425 homes were lost across northern Victoria in the Longwood, Harcourt, Walwa, Yarroweyah, Goomalibee and Markwood fires.
Ms Lovell said she was “extremely disappointed” to hear from residents in the Longwood and Harcourt fire zones that the government had failed to provide an adequate housing response.
“It is vital that after a disaster housing is provided that allows families to remain present and connected in their communities as they recover, and enables children to stay in their local schools,” she said.
Ms Lovell said the government had “let these communities down” and had taken “too long” to provide housing support.
“I am pleased to hear that the government has finally committed to providing 100 modular homes, but this is clearly not enough, and has arrived far too late as the cold winter weather has already set in,” she said.
