The Coalition’s Plan for Real Action on Housing
20-August-2010
The Coalition has a Plan for real action on housing.
State Labor failures in land release, increased developer fees, charges, and planning laws all hamper the ability of Australians to purchase affordable homes.
The Coalition will attack problems that reduce housing affordability.
We will ensure that State, Territory and local governments increase land supply for new housing as part of a new National Affordable Housing Agreement (NAHA). The Federal Government’s role in housing policy is to ensure that the States, Territories and local government deliver better and more affordable outcome for Australians.
The planning process requires governments to work with local communities, which Labor bypassed. The Coalition will start a new partnership with State and Territory governments to jointly improve pathways to home ownership.
The Coalition’s goal is to have fewer clients in public housing. This will be achieved by enhancing opportunities for home ownership.
Wherever possible, the experience of social housing should be a transitional one, an opportunity to regain some stability, rebuild financial capacity and move on.
Labor promised to halve homelessness, but since 2007 homelessness has increased. Labor’s National Rental Affordability Scheme (NRAS) promised an additional 50,000 new units of affordable rental accommodation, but has provided only 8,000.1
The Coalition will introduce new accountability measures for social housing to ensure funding to State, Territory and local governments is not wasted.
The Coalition’s Plan for Real Action on Housing will:
1. Introduce a National Home Affordability Compact
The Coalition will establish a National Home Affordability Compact, which will establish accommodation targets for each State or Territory over five years.
2. Enhancing Planning and Approval Processes
The Coalition will address planning delays through the National Home Affordability Compact.
3. Keeping the Australian Building and Construction Commission
The Coalition will keep the Australian Building and Construction Commission.
4. Direct investment in the housing market
The Coalition will release the NRAS Implementation Study and allow State and Territory governments to adjust the amount of their subsidy to NRAS projects to improve NRAS take up in regions where rents are higher than average.
5. Affordable Housing Vouchers
The Coalition will encourage each State and Territory to establish an affordable housing voucher scheme for eligible people to access housing support services.
6. State Housing Trusts
The Coalition will encourage each jurisdiction to transfer all of their existing housing stock into an independent statutory housing trust responsible for the management of their housing stock.
7. Affordable Housing
The Coalition will support the establishment of a State-based register and tenancy management system of affordable accommodation that meets nationally agreed standards.
8. A National Framework for Community Housing
The Coalition will develop a national regulatory framework for community housing to provide consistent supervision of community housing providers based on their risk profile.
9. Addressing Homelessness
The Coalition will reduce red tape and delays for non-government providers of homeless services by creating a Homelessness Coordination Unit to operate as a one-stop shop for service providers. The Coalition will also require State and Territory governments to be assessed against a whole-of-government homelessness plan as a condition of federal funding.