Australia’s housing and homelessness crisis is worsening, according to the Productivity Commission.
At the same time, the federal government is spending more on tax breaks for property investors ($12.3 billion in 2025) than on social housing, homelessness services and rent assistance combined ($9.6 billion), new analysis from the Australian Council of Social Service (ACOSS) shows.
ACOSS has called on governments to curb property investor tax breaks and to build more social homes.
Around 190,000 households are on the public housing waitlist, up from around 169,000 in 2024 and around 141,000 in 2018, the Productivity Commission’s Report on Government Services (ROGS) reveals.
41 per cent of people waiting for public housing are homeless or at risk of homelessness – up from 26 per cent in 2015.
Social housing makes up only 3.6 per cent of all dwellings, down from nearly 5.7 per cent in the 1980s (ROGS) — and less than 2 per cent of dwellings built annually, down from 22 per cent in the 1950s and 15 per cent in the 1970s (ACOSS).
Additionally, 18 per cent of Commonwealth Rent Assistance households are in severe rental stress (paying more than half their income on rent), up from 8.1 per cent in 2004.
27 per cent of people using homelessness services are persistently homeless (homeless for more than seven months out of two years), up from 22 per cent in 2019.
ACOSS — backed by St Vincent de Paul — called on the Federal Government to gradually halve the 50 per cent Capital Gains Tax discount and phase out negative gearing over five years. It should also set national social housing targets and substantially boost social housing supply to meet these targets.
Acting CEO Jacqueline Phillips said: “This report today shows housing stress and homelessness are getting worse while absurdly generous tax breaks drive up home prices and supercharge inequality in our society.
“More people are struggling to afford the private rental market, pushing them into homelessness and onto growing social housing waitlists. With new social housing accounting for less than two per cent of homes built each year, the situation is set to worsen, not improve.
“Property investor tax breaks come at a staggering cost of more than $12 billion each year, which could be spent on social housing, social services and supports that benefit everyone.”
The ACT Council of Social Service (ACTCOSS) supports ACOSS’s calls for more social housing and reducing tax breaks for housing investors.
“The need for federal and territory government housing policy change has never been clearer in the ACT,” CEO Dr Devin Bowles said.
“As the ACT public housing waiting list grows, and housing stress overwhelms so many households, the need for more investment in social housing is obvious to most Canberrans.”
Senator David Pocock (Independent) said: “This new report from ACOSS shows just how cooked Australia’s housing system is, with the government spending billions more on tax concessions for investors than they do on social housing, homelessness services and rent assistance.
“I’ve had the Parliamentary Budget Office model some really sensible changes to cap some of these concessions, and continue to call for the government to start treating housing as a human right.”
