Coronavirus, Homeless Accommodation

The Hon. K.J. MAHER (Leader of the Opposition) (15:23): Final supplementary arising from the original answer: is the minister able to indicate the number of people who, during the COVID-19 pandemic, have been accommodated in hotel accommodation who have ceased to be there and have been effectively evicted back into homelessness?

The Hon. J.M.A. LENSINK (Minister for Human Services) (15:23): I'm not sure the data actually tells me whether they were evicted into homelessness. There were certainly people who were evicted for property damage and other forms of antisocial behaviour, but there were also a number of people who re-entered hotel and motel accommodation and, of course, some people left voluntarily.

As I said previously, the antisocial behaviour policy was broadly followed in relation to motel accommodation. The difference with this program is that, unlike having a tenancy, it's up to the motel proprietors to determine whether somebody was evicted or not. I think in most instances they have been incredibly supportive of the program and very reasonable.