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The Housing Industry Association (HIA) has called the federal government’s housing agenda “too narrow” to fix the country’s current issues.
With new Minister for Housing and Homelessness, Clare O’Neil, taking the reins from outgoing portfolio head Julie Collins at the end of July, HIA has argued that there’s never been a better time for a “policy reset”.
While the organisation has affirmed that social and affordable housing must be a focus of the government in rebalancing the nation’s housing, it also argued that not enough has been done to support private building.
With the clock now ticking on the government’s commitment to support the construction of 1.2 million homes over five years, HIA is advocating for more attention to the entire housing ecosystem.
“Social and affordable housing plays a key role in supporting those who are unable to get into home ownership, and we are supportive of boosting its supply across the country. However, social and affordable housing only make up a small part of the big picture that is housing in Australia,” said HIA managing director Jocelyn Martin.
She noted that the majority of the government’s 1.2 million homes target will need to be homes for the private market and argued that without stimulating private building, house prices and rental costs will be unlikely to balance in a way that truly supports affordability.
“All areas of housing need to be focused on, and government policies cannot just focus on social housing and leave out free market housing; it is critical the balance is right if the government is to succeed in its long-term vision,” Martin said.
The organisation is hoping that the new housing minister is looking at the big picture when it comes to ensuring that all Australians have access to an affordable home. So far, O’Neil has not issued any official media statements relating to her new role.
Stressing that “now is the time to show strong leadership on housing”, Martin asked O’Neil and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to consider a “reset” of the housing policy agenda “to focus on increasing housing supply across all areas of housing”.
“The current agenda is too narrow and does not sufficiently go to the heart of the problem of fixing housing supply for future generations,” she said.
“The more new homes we build, the more social housing is freed up for those who really need it, and the more likely it is that ordinary Australians have a chance to buy a house at an affordable price.”
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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