The federal government is pleading for crossbench support for its social housing fund, arguing rising homelessness levels require urgent action.
Opposition is mounting to the $10 billion Housing Australia Future Fund, which risks defeat in the Senate unless its ambitions are ratcheted up in line with crossbencher demands.
The Greens and independent senators David Pocock and Lidia Thorpe have outlined their concerns about the bill in dissenting reports to a Senate inquiry, with the Greens labelling it “not fit for purpose.”
But Housing Minister Julie Collins pointed to Census data showing 123,000 Australians were homeless in 2021, with a quarter of them young people aged 13 to 24 and a huge spike among women.
“Each of those Australians has a story to tell and each story is one all of us should be listening to,” she told Parliament on Thursday.
“[The fund] will be the largest boost to social and affordable housing in more than a decade.
“Our fund will help deliver more homes and I urge people in this place to support it because Australians that need it most need help.”
Labor needs the Greens and two crossbenchers to pass the bill, which would result in 30,000 new social housing dwellings being built in the first five years, with up to $500 million spent each year.
In their response, the Greens said the fund was “deeply unambitious and does not provide certainty in housing investment.”
“It’s clear the government has no support for a housing plan that will make the crisis worse,” Greens housing and homelessness spokesman Max Chandler-Mather said.
The government must come to the table and negotiate with the crossbench to invest more in social and affordable housing, he added.
The Greens want $5 billion a year invested in public, community and affordable housing as well as a national freeze on rent increases.
The proposed legislation was generally well received by the housing sector, including community housing organisations and research bodies, as a step in the right direction that could be scaled up over time.
But groups such as Anglicare Australia also said the measures did not match the scale of the current housing crisis.
Several stakeholders supported doubling the fund to $20 billion, in line with Grattan Institute modelling, for the construction of 60,000 dwellings over the next five years.
The $500 million annual disbursement cap also raised concerns, with many calling for the removal of the cap or for it to be indexed to inflation so that it lifts from year to year.
There was also debate about how dependable the scheme would be as a source of funding, including concerns about its link to stock market returns.
