Government and investors must ally to solve the housing crisis, Minister claims
Without collaboration between the public and private sectors, the federal Minister for Housing fears an “uncoordinated and piecemeal” approach.
In a recent livestream from the Committee for Economic Development of Australia (CEDA), titled Tackling Australia’s Housing Crisis, Housing Minister Julie Collins warned that Australia’s housing emergency could not be solved unless governments worked alongside private and community sectors.
“This is not something we can do alone,” the minister stressed. “It will take the combined efforts and coordinated efforts of public, private and community sectors all working together over years to undo decades of declining affordability.”
She underscored that “the investment community, the not-for-profit sector […] our lending institutions, the property and construction industries” all “bring different strengths”.
“Housing is not someone else’s problem,” Ms Collins asserted. “It’s everyone’s problem.”
The minister acknowledges that housing insecurity permeates all aspects of the real estate sector. She noted that nearly half (46.7 per cent) of low income households who rent spend more than 30 per cent of their income on rent.
REA’s chief financial officer, Janelle Hopkins, also shared some alarming statistics about the rental crisis, noting that PropTrack’s latest Housing Affordability Index revealed record low rental vacancy rates are affecting a staggering 50 per cent of the country’s population.
Ms Hopkins also stated that the PropTrack data revealed a “typical income household earning $105,000” could afford to buy “just 13 per cent of homes” at current interest rates.
According to Ms Collins, Australia’s housing supply is scarcer than the OECD (Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development) average. With 122,000 Australians unhoused on the night of the 2021 census, and 200,000 Australians on social housing waitlists, the housing crisis is one that is clearly hitting the country’s most vulnerable communities the hardest.
The federal government’s solution to the housing crisis is the National Housing Accord, which the minister described as an “ambitious” promise of 1.2 million new well-located houses by 2028.
To achieve this goal in a time of acute stress in the construction industry is a tall order. In fact, the conference’s moderator, Dr Luke Houghton, admitted that construction delays have meant only 184,000 new homes are expected to be finished by 2025 – significantly short of the government’s target.
Without a cohesive, multisector approach that takes industry partners on board, the minister warned the government risked “an uncoordinated and piecemeal approach” that would fail to meaningfully deliver its goal.
“We need as many homes on the ground as quickly as we can,” the Ms Collins stated, but industry collaboration is essential if they are to be, in her words, “the right home, in the right places”.
Ms Collins’ comments come a week after Property Council of Australia CEO Mike Zorbas slammed the announcement of a new vacant property tax in Victoria, which was aimed at providing a “financial incentive for investors who rent out homes or develop land”.
Mr Zorbas criticised the new tax for being a “trust burner” due to the lack of consultation on the policy, mere weeks after the Victorian government signed onto an “affordability partnership” with the government.
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