Public Sector Wages and Conditions

Housing dream turns to nightmare

Releasing the ACOSS submission to the Productivity Commission's Inquiry into home ownership today, ACOSS President Andrew McCallum said:

"Research shows that

• There are 330,000 people on low incomes spending more than 30% of their income on rent and there is a shortage of up to 150,000 houses and flats for low-cost private rental.

* Home ownership for young families (25-39 year olds) has slumped by 10% in the ten years to 1999 and the poorest 40% of families and households cannot afford to buy a three bedroom house anywhere in Adelaide,
Melbourne or Sydney.

* Over 200,000 people are still waiting for a place in public and community housing -- they have given up on the prospect of owning their
own home.

"Half of all Australian families and households live on less than $40,000 a year -- they can barely keep up with the costs of renting, let alone save for a home in the big capital cities."

"There is a danger that the Productivity Commission Inquiry is focussed too narrowly on the needs of first home owners when it should also give priority to the problems facing low income families and households in long-term private rentals and people waiting for public & community housing."

"The ACOSS submission argues that the current housing boom has worsened housing affordability -- property prices have sky-rocketed and it has led to over-investment in expensive inner-city flats."

"The Federal Government has also contributed to the problem of a lack of affordable housing. Following the halving of Capital Gains Tax rates in 2000, 'negative gearing' became more attractive as a tax rort for high income earners and this has added fuel to the present investment property boom to the detriment of first home buyers. Federal support for public and community housing has also sharply declined over the past ten years."

"The ACOSS submission calls for a national strategy for affordable housing across all levels of government that would include:

* Tax changes that support more affordable housing including the replacement of negative gearing for new 'passive' investments in property, shares or collectables with a tax credit that would meet 4% of construction costs for low cost rental housing.

* Increasing the supply and affordability of private rental by a new mix of public and private investment, and by raising Rent Assistance by at least $5 a week for one million poor households, and extending it to mature age students and low income families with older teenage children.

* Increasing and upgrading public and community housing by boosting Federal support for the CSHA and improving the viability of State and Territory housing authorities, including by helping them achieve a wider tenant profile.

© 2001 Community & Public Sector Union - State Public Services Federation (CPSU-SPSF) - National Office

http://www.cpsu-spsf.asn.au/campaigns/public_sector_wages/20031030_168.html
Last Modified: 15 Nov 2005