Summarize this content to 2000 words in 6 paragraphs Sticking with Premier Roger Cook and Housing Minister John Carey’s press conference in Perth this morning, and Carey has partially blamed WA’s most infamous public servant for public housing stock going backwards for several years under Labor.The total public housing stock dropped by nearly 2000 properties in the five years after Labor came to power in 2017, from 44,087 to 42,661.WA Premier Roger Cook at this morning’s press conference with Housing Minister John Carey (left) and Property Council executive officer Nicola Brischetto (right).Credit: Hamish HastieIt has since crept back to 44,591 as of September last year, but the issue has been a sore point for the government as the state grapples with a housing crisis.In announcing a suite of new housing election promises, Carey defended the slow growth in social housing numbers – blaming the now-jailed former Housing Authority general manager Paul Whyte.“The whole organisation came to a standstill because of a major corruption scandal that had to reset the whole agency,” he said.“Procurement processes had to be relooked at, everything had to be done.”Whyte stole more than $22 million from the Department of Housing over a decade and is serving a 12-year prison sentence after being convicted of fraud in 2021.LoadingCarey said his government had a target of 5300 new public housing dwellings – with 2800 constructed to date.Opposition housing spokesman Steve Martin said Labor was blaming everyone else for their failures in housing.“The ‘dog-ate-my-homework’ excuse doesn’t stack up,” he said.“With less than three weeks before the election you’re trying to con voters that your focus is housing. What have you been focused on for the past eight years.”Labor also promised $80 million to be tipped into the state’s social housing fund as well as $150 million in incentives to get build-to-rent apartment projects off the ground.
