The ACT Council of Social Service (ACTCOSS) is imploring the ACT Government to urgently implement a raft of policies to help fix Canberra’s housing and rental crisis, while welcoming the ACT Opposition’s focus on the issue.
ACTCOSS’s support follows the Shadow Minister for Housing and Homelessness, Mark Parton, putting forward a motion in the Legislative Assembly on Tuesday for an independent review into the impact of government policy on housing and rental prices.
“We are clearly in the grip of a housing crisis of the ACT Labor-Greens Government’s own making, and we cannot go on like this,” Mr Parton said.
“The Labor-Greens Government continually puts the blame elsewhere, while turning a blind eye to the controls and levers it has over land supply and land prices, not to mention the raft of rates, taxes and charges that impacts directly on high rental prices in the Territory.”
ACTCOSS CEO, Dr Emma Campbell, said they make no apologies for holding all political parties to account on housing affordability for low-income Australians.
“ACTCOSS has long categorised the housing and homelessness situation in the ACT as a crisis. However, our focus is always on the lack of affordable rentals for people on low incomes in the Canberra community,” Dr Campbell said.
“Housing is the most significant expense for low-income households in the ACT, and Canberra has the highest median rentals of any capital city. As a result, we have the nation’s highest rates of rental stress among lower income private rental households.”
People in full-time work are increasingly finding the rental market too expensive.
Essential community workers are spending one-third to two-thirds of their weekly wage on their rent in the majority of Canberra suburbs, according to recent research from the Everybody’s Home campaign.
“The lack of affordable rentals is disproportionately impacting older women, women and children, the LBGTIQA+ community and Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander peoples in the Territory. Of people accessing homeless services, 55 per cent are female, 16 per cent are Indigenous and 48 per cent are families with children,” Dr Campbell said.
“The ACT has a shortfall of over 3,000 social housing, a waiting list of nearly a year for priority public housing and at least 1,600 people experiencing homelessness each day. There are virtually no private rental properties on the market in the ACT affordable for people on the Disability Support Pension, JobSeeker or Youth Allowance.”
Although critical of the government’s lack of policies, ACTCOSS have welcomed the recent announcement of minimum standards for ceiling insulation in rental properties.
“Over one-third of Canberrans rent their home and they are paying the highest rents of any Australian capital city,” Dr Campbell said.
“These households should be guaranteed that their home does not compromise their health or security or contribute to further financial stress through poor energy efficiency.”
The Federal Government also has a role to play in supporting residents’ ability to keep a roof over their heads by raising the rate of income support for people looking for employment, ACTCOSS said.
“Investment in social housing not only makes sense for our community’s wellbeing, it also makes economic sense. KMPG has shown that for every $1 million of public investment in social housing, GDP is boosted by $1.3 million,” Dr Campbell said.
The Community Housing Industry Association, ACT Regional Committee (CHIA ACT) said the ACT Government must better leverage their Community Housing Provider (CHP) member organisations to meet the demand for affordable rentals.
CHIA Chair, Andrew Hannan, said their member organisations are the “logistical vehicles” for the government to be able to deliver on their affordable rental targets.
“Indicative of the opportunity being lost is the fact that over $2 billion of concessional debt finance has been secured to date by CHIA members elsewhere in the past three years from the National Housing Finance and Investment Corporation (NHFIC), as outlined in the recently released NHFIC Review, supporting delivery of thousands of new social and affordable rental dwellings,” Mr Hannan said.
CEO of ACT Shelter, Travis Gilbert, said if the ACT adopted an infrastructure investment approach to social and affordable housing supply, it could derive significant social and economic return.
“We now have local data that illustrates that not only are the financial and social costs borne by people experiencing homelessness enormous at a personal level, but also there are enormous costs to government in community services, health, justice, and loss of earning potential. In some cases, these costs are in excess of $200,000 per Canberran, per year,” Mr Gilbert said.
“Sustained increase in investment in housing infrastructure will change the lives of Canberrans experiencing housing insecurity and homelessness for the better. It will also pay dividends to the Territory in the form of reduced expenditure on government services and increased participation in the economic and social life of our city.”
ACTCOSS call on the ACT Government to implement the following policies with urgency:
- The full, transparent, and timely delivery of the ACT Housing Strategy and the delivery of all commitments in the Parliamentary and Governing Agreement which includes 400 additional public houses and 600 affordable rental dwellings
- Empowering Community Housing Providers to address the shortfall of affordable homes through access to affordable land, rezoning to allow development by CHPs, and rates exemptions
- All economic, social and cultural rights in the ACT Human Rights Act 2004, including a Right to Housing
ACTCOSS gave evidence to the Australian Parliament’s Standing Committee on Tax and Revenue’s inquiry into housing affordability and supply in Australia today, Wednesday 10 November.
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