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The federal government has made a step forward in executing its plan to address the many issues facing Australians in accessing safe, stable and affordable housing.
In the midst of National Homelessness Week, Minister for Housing Julie Collins has released the government’s issues paper that will drive its development of a National Housing and Homelessness Plan.
This marks the beginning of the public consultation phase, and Ms Collins is encouraging everyone, from private citizens, renters, property stakeholders and residents of social housing to industry bodies and corporations to respond with their input.
The paper is forthright in laying out the many challenges facing the government in improving housing for Australians.
As Ms Collins writes in her introduction, beyond the rising costs across every sector of renting and ownership, “many Australians face additional housing challenges”.
“Inadequate housing creates barriers for women and children leaving family and domestic violence. Overcrowding remains a significant issue in many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities. People with disability can struggle to find affordable housing and are more likely to live in social housing compared to people without disability. People who have recently transitioned from the Australian Defence Force to civilian life have a higher risk of experiencing homelessness.”
The paper, and the government’s stated approach which is to “set out a 10-year national vision, across the responsibilities of different levels of government, to help guide future housing and homelessness policy” has so far been broadly welcomed across sectors of the property industry.
The Property Council of Australia (PCA) praised the government for “leaning into the challenge” of Australia’s housing issues. The paper, the PCA said, showed that the government understood “that Australia’s housing future must be defined by a targeted boost in the supply of new homes and better planning systems for our cities”.
Ms Collins acknowledged the large amount of work that the government had in front of it, but noted that without collaboration across the board, solutions would be hard to bring to fruition.
“This plan extends broader than government. Its success is dependent on support from the housing and homelessness sectors, not-for-profits and private industry because government action alone cannot address Australia’s housing challenges.”
To the PCA, this represented an important acknowledgement that property industry professionals are needed for the plan to work.
“We welcome Housing Minister Julie Collins’ recognition that NHHA goals require government and stakeholder collaboration given the property industry’s leadership role in creating our cities,” the body said in a statement.
The Urban Development Institute of Australia echoed those sentiments, with the organisation’s president, Maxwell Shifman, congratulating the government for “starting the important conversation on how we get the entire market, community and governments to pull together to solve our housing crisis”.
The consultation paper even appeared to garner bipartisan support from some corners, with Ms Collins noting that the Liberal government in Tasmania had welcomed release of the issues paper, calling the plan “ambitious”.
“We know we have to be ambitious because our challenges are significant,” Ms Collins said. Submissions in response to the issues paper are open through 22 September.
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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