Melbourne’s growth corridor ought to be part of a National Affordable Housing plan
The Baillieu Government’s plan to house 1 million more people on the outer fringe gives cause for concern, as relying on expansion of cities as a sole strategy to achieve affordable housing is a recipe for disaster.
Pushing cities further out means putting people ever further from the major job centres, and creates a massive infrastructure deficit, particularly for public transport, that simply won’t be funded by developers. Continue reading »
After the stimulus, affordable housing will decline
In the decade from 2001 to 2010 Australia grew by over 1 million households, but lost 5,308 social housing properties.
This is contributing to housing stress in the rental market, where one in four renters are in housing stress.
While the Federal Government’s Nation Building Stimulus gave a much-needed boost to social housing, this funding is set to run out next year. Continue reading »
High housing costs force troubling trade offs
The high cost of housing is forcing families to make troubling trade-offs, including delaying having children because they can’t get into home ownership or secure rental housing.
Reports of house prices and economic fears driving Victoria’s fertility rate to the lowest in the nation indicate that the housing crisis has wide reaching ramifications.
The problem of housing affordability is indeed a wide-reaching one.
New report on housing stress
New research shows that more than one in ten households face housing stress.
Australians for Affordable housing commissioned the National Centre for Social and Economic Modelling (NATSEM) to update rates of housing stress across the country.
The report, entitled Housing Costs Through the Roof: Australia’s Housing Stress shows how housing stress plays out in each state.
Nationally, 850,000 households are at risk of financial hardship and poverty after paying for housing costs.
To download the full report, with statistics on each state, click the link below.
A National Housing plan and a Federal Minister
In order to really address the lack of affordable housing in this country, we need a National Housing plan and a Federal Housing Minister to ensure a more balanced approach to affordable housing.
New report shows social housing has strong benefits
A new social housing survey reports improved health, job prospects and education opportunities.
The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare survey collected information from households within both public rental housing and community housing.
- 54 per cent of respondents said that living in social housing had helped them, or members of their household, start or continue education
- 45 per cent said social housing had seen an improvement in their job situation.
For a summary of findings click here
To download the full report click here
Expert panel to reform our social housing system – a good first step towards affordable housing
Today we have welcomed the Federal Government’s announcement of an expert panel to advise on improving the social housing system.
This is a very positive step towards delivering a housing system that works for everyone and we look forward to the expert panel coming up with solutions to get more people in to affordable housing.
How does $329m worth of travel make housing more affordable?
Figures from the ATO confirm that tax breaks for housing are out of control with investors claiming $30 billion in rental losses, including millions on travel, stationery and ‘sundry’ expenses.
Multiple generations sharing to save costs shows housing unaffordable
The high cost of housing is having repercussions for households across the housing spectrum. Reports of cash strapped households sharing to split the financial load is a worrying trend as households try to cope with high housing costs. (“Families stay put to save” Herald Sun 27/09/11).
Stamp duty removal not the silver bullet to making housing more affordable
Calls to cut stamp duty are not the whole answer to tax reform, said Australians for Affordable Housing (AAH) today.
AAH Spokesperson Sarah Toohey said that more comprehensive tax reform is required to really improve housing affordability for all.