Long-time St Vincent de Paul volunteer Jack Daffy said he knew of at least one family living in their car as public housing properties lay vacant.

“There was one lady with four kids camping in a car,” he said.

“I’m appalled when I see houses that are empty and there’s people out there who are homeless and looking for houses.

“I counted 28 that are still owned by the ministry and are still vacant.”

The Department of Health and Human Services said the figure was much lower and most had been offered to new tenants. 

However, Mr Daffy said change was needed, including more frequent inspections to help prevent large-scale damage to department housing.

Mr Daffy said infrequent property inspections of public housing was contributing to the problem.

“These houses are only inspected about every three years... in a private rental you get inspected much more frequently,” he said.

Following a question from Member for South-West Coast Roma Britnell in Parliament about department housing inspections, Minister Martin Foley said inspections were made “at a minimum of one every three years”.

“Housing staff will also inspect properties when maintenance issues are reported to the department,” he said.

“When a property becomes vacant, maintenance works are completed and the property is re-tenanted. If the property was damaged or left in an unreasonable condition, this can create occasional delays as necessary works are carried out for re-tenancy.”

A Department of Health and Human Services spokesperson said 19 of the Warrnambool area’s 840 public housing properties were currently vacant. 

“Ten of those have been offered to prospective tenants and most have been accepted,” they said.

“Of the other nine, six are undergoing construction and upgrade works; two are being transferred to agencies to manage and one is being demolished following a significant fire.”

The spokesperson said Victoria’s public housing occupancy rate was at 98 per cent. “Properties can be vacant for a number of reasons including maintenance or tenants vacating due to transfer, relocation or, in few instances, eviction.”

Mr Daffy’s concerns follow the latest Rental Affordability Index figures that showed low-income earners were being priced out of Warrnambool’s private rental market.

The figures show a single person on Newstart would be spending 50 per cent of their income on a one-bedroom property. A single parent working part-time and receiving some benefits would be paying 38 per cent of their income on a two-bedroom house.

The figures led Council to Homeless Persons chief executive officer Jenny Smith to call for 14,500 new social housing dwellings across the state. Ms Smith said a good portion of those were required in the south-west, where many people were on the waiting list for social housing.