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Western Australia has earmarked a substantial part of its budget for new social housing and homelessness initiatives.
The state will dedicate $511 million of the 2023–24 budget to addressing homelessness, increasing low-income housing and incentivising high-density construction, Premier Mark McGowan has announced.
The government aims to boost social housing delivery by adding an additional $450 million to its existing Social Housing Investment Fund. That will take the investment up to $2.6 billion, significantly assisting in the construction of new social housing and refurbishment and repairs of old dwellings. The new investment in the fund is expected to facilitate around 700 additional social homes across Western Australia.
An additional $49 million is being provisioned in the budget for a pilot program to partner with community housing organisations to provide 100 supported landlord homes for people experiencing rough sleeping in regional areas of the state.
The budget also introduces a new Keystart Loan Program to enable customers to secure pre-sale off-the-plan properties, and makes amendments to Keystart’s Urban Connect program so that one-bedroom units are now eligible to be purchased in the scheme, which incentivises investment in medium- and high-density constructions.
Mr McGowan said the measures were intended to support “the most vulnerable members of our community across the state”.
And he promised the record investment would help “improve the quality and accessibility of social housing for thousands of Western Australians in need.
“We’re also assisting more Western Australians to achieve their home ownership goals through changes to Keystart’s Urban Connect Home Loan making more dwellings eligible,” he added.
Housing Minister John Carey described his government’s approach as one focused on growth as well as retention of social housing dwellings within the state.
“The McGowan government is doing all it can to boost social housing, including working to retain ageing social housing properties where possible and investing in alternative construction methods, as part of its reforms to accelerate the delivery of social housing across Western Australia.
“Since the McGowan government’s record investment in social housing and homelessness measures, we’ve added more than 1,200 social homes, with nearly 1,000 social homes currently under contract or construction,” he noted.
Mr Carey added that the funding boost should highlight the government’s “commitment in supporting the most vulnerable members of our community with a $511 million investment in housing and homelessness initiatives, including adding 100 supported landlord homes for people experiencing rough sleeping in regional Western Australia”.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Juliet Helmke
Based in Sydney, Juliet Helmke has a broad range of reporting and editorial experience across the areas of business, technology, entertainment and the arts. She was formerly Senior Editor at The New York Observer.
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