Federal Labor’s Affordable Housing Plan Under Scrutiny by Coalition and Greens

An auctioneer counts down a bid during an auction of a residential property in Sydney, Australia, on May 8, 2021. Lisa Maree Williams/Getty Images

Both the Liberal-National Coalition and the Greens have opposed the Albanese government’s $10 billion Housing Australia Future Fund, with the Coalition saying that the money won’t solve the problem in the short term and the Greens seeking several changes before lending their support.

Meanwhile, the building sector is urging the opposition and crossbenchers to support the proposed Bill as they argue that it will provide the opportunity for the federal government to embed housing as a core infrastructure priority.

“Finding solutions to the issue of affordable housing is imperative as it poses one of the country’s biggest challenges, and we must work together to address it,” Master Builders Australia chief executive, Denita Wawn, told a senate inquiry on Feb. 24.

“Master Builders supports all three bills as the next step in the government’s broader agenda for housing reform.

“We urge the opposition and crossbench senators to take a pragmatic approach for sensible reform.”

The Master Builders also warned  that new housing over the next five years “will fall short of the 200,000 homes needed annually until 2026-27.”

Under the proposed Bill, up to $500 million per annum would fund the construction of new homes. Of this sum, 20,000 homes will be built for social housing, and 10,000 homes would be provided for frontline workers.

Up to $200 million would go towards repairing and improving housing for Indigenous communities. Up to $100 million would be provided for crisis and transitional housing for women and children leaving domestic violence.

Federal Minister for Housing and the Minister for Homelessness Julie Collins, in unveiling the proposal of Feb. 9, said it will “provide annual disbursements to deliver a secure pipeline of funding for social and affordable housing in Australia.”

“The structure of the Fund will protect it from the whims of future governments,” she said.

“This will provide critical certainty to Australia’s community housing providers, and the scale of the investment will invite new contributions to social and affordable housing from institutional investors.”

Nearly One Million Dwellings are Needed by 2035

According to Master Builders Australia’s (MBA) Denita Wawn, to meet the shortfall of available housing, approximately 800,000 dwellings would be needed by 2035. Wawn said the fund would also need to be increased from $10 billion to $20 billion.

The MBA has also said that the amount should be in addition to existing national housing and homelessness agreement and Commonwealth rental assistance schemes, which provide $6.9 billion annually.

However, the Coalition’s Deputy Liberal leader Sussan Ley said the multi-billion dollar fund would do little to address the housing issue.

“I don’t see the government demonstrating how it will immediately solve the housing crisis; I just see another bucket of money off to one side spending priorities all wrong when it comes to where Australians want to see leadership from Anthony Albanese,” she said.

“I don’t deny that there are housing pressures that Australians face, but how do we solve that?

“Perhaps not by creating yet another off-budget vehicle of spending that pushes up inflation and interest rates and doesn’t immediately solve the problem.”

Meanwhile, Max Chandler-Mather MP, the Greens spokesperson for housing and homelessness, said on Feb. 11 that his party would be “reserving their position on the legislation package, based on concerns about the adequacy of the Fund and its operations.”

“This isn’t a $10 billion investment in housing; it’s a $10 billion gamble on the stock market, with a $500 million per year spending cap on housing.

“The Greens have made their priorities clear. We want to see a housing plan that actually starts to tackle the scale of the crisis, not one that will see the shortage of public and housing get worse, do nothing for renters and lock in real cuts to housing funding.”

Tasmanians Greens Senator for McKim, Nicholas James, said on Feb. 9 that the party seeks a longer inquiry so that “significant changes” could be made to the legislation.

“We have a situation in this country, particularly for renters, where if you’re lucky enough to find a place to rent, you are paying exorbitant rents. We have the Reserve Bank jacking up interest rates and smashing not only renters but mortgage holders. People are really doing it tough at the moment, and the government’s response is a wholly inadequate response to the rental and housing crisis in this country,” James said.

Concerns in Regional Australia

Independent MP for Indi, Helen Haines, who successfully amended the government’s housing package bills to include better representation of regional, rural and remote Australia, said the May budget should include a Regional Housing Infrastructure Fund.

Part of Haines’ amendments includes the quarantine that the needs of regional, rural and remote Australia are explicitly considered under the Bills.

“(The fund) would invest in enabling infrastructure like sewerage, drainage and roads to accelerate the development of new housing across regional Australia,” she said, releasing her budget submission to the government.

“Rural and regional councils want to open up more housing, but we need to make sure funding is directed to the regions and addressing the barriers we face, which are different to those in the major cities.”

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese urged the Coalition to rethink its opposition.

“They are saying ‘no’ to our Housing Australia Future Fund legislation for reasons beyond my comprehension, in spite of the fact that it is supported by industry ...and state and territory governments,” he said.