HOUSING support is finally being rolled out for victims of the 2025-26 summer bushfires, following sustained advocacy from Northern Victoria MP Wendy Lovell, who says the response has been “far too late and too little.”
Five months after the fires devastated communities across Northern Victoria, the State Government has announced it will provide 100 temporary modular homes for people without adequate insurance whose homes were significantly damaged or destroyed.
Ms Lovell welcomed the announcement but said the government had failed to act quickly enough for hundreds of displaced residents.
“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.
Ms Lovell raised the issue in parliament last week, demanding the Minister for Natural Disaster Recovery take immediate action to provide proper housing support.
She said that after both the Black Saturday bushfires and the October 2022 floods, governments moved rapidly to provide emergency accommodation for displaced residents.
In this summer’s fires, more than 425 homes were lost across the Northern Victoria electorate, including in the Longwood, Harcourt, Walwa, Yarroweyah, Goomalibee and Markwood fire zones. Across Victoria, almost 500 homes were destroyed or damaged.
The Victorian Government’s own submission to the bushfire inquiry acknowledged many residents could be displaced for “potentially several years”.
Ms Lovell said she had heard from residents in the Longwood and Harcourt fire zones who were still living in caravans without adequate heating, relying on friends and family for accommodation, or struggling to return children to local schools while trying to rebuild their homes and lives.
She described the government’s housing response as inadequate and said affected communities deserved far greater support.
