Figures obtained today by Shadow Housing Minister Steve Martin reveal the Cook Labor Government’s much-touted Urban Connect Loan Scheme has been an abject failure.
Halfway through the two-year scheme, just 17 of the 300 Keystart loans available under the scheme have been taken up by homebuyers.
Mr Martin said the figures further highlighted the Cook Labor Government’s complete mismanagement of the State’s housing crisis.
The two-year pilot of the Urban Connect Loan scheme, launched in July 2022, was supposed to encourage Western Australians on lower to middle incomes to buy units near transport hubs.
“Housing Minister John Carey proudly touted this program as a way to encourage Western Australians into higher density housing and relieve the housing crisis,” Mr Martin said.
“It has been a massive failure. Quite literally, nobody is buying what the Minister Carey is selling.
“Only 19 loans have been approved since July 2022, with only 17 being taken up, which is a tiny 6 per cent of the target of 300.
“How is the Minister planning on delivering that other 94 per cent before the program concludes?”
Mr Martin said Minister Carey now not only needed to come clean on how much the roll out of the botched scheme had cost Western Australian taxpayers, he also needed to outline what his plan B was to encourage people into higher density housing near transport hubs.
