High rental costs and a lack of security in the private market are exacerbating homelessness and putting more people on the public housing waiting list, Victorian Council of Social Service chief executive Emma King said last week.
Ms King said an investment in new housing stock was urgently needed.
There are about 3500 social housing properties in Hume and Whittlesea, a government spokeswoman told the Weekly. Just how many of these homes form part of the state government’s $1.3 billion upgrade announcement is yet to be decided.
Community Housing Federation of Victoria executive officer Lesley Dredge said that one in seven Victorians today could not afford their housing costs. “Only 2 per cent of Melbourne rental homes are affordable to working sole-parent families and there’s a shortage of low-cost private rentals of around 50,000 homes.”
The two agencies these women represent are among seven Victorian peak bodies working on housing affordability. They came together to develop a plan for social housing reform in Victoria –
Making Social Housing Work. Their report found that a lack of affordable housing affected the functioning of the state’s economy, the well-being of individuals and the cohesiveness of communities and society.
An investment in 800 additional social housing units a year is urgently required to address Victoria’s worsening housing situation for people on low incomes, the report found.
Its recommendations include:
• An investment of $200 million per year for 20 years in additional new social housing;
• Changes to private tenancy laws to make private rental more secure;
• Making the National Affordable Housing Agreement work better by including other Commonwealth housing programs in it; and
• Making the National Rental Affordability Scheme a permanent program.
The bodies have called for social housing investment to be prioritised in the May state budget.
