Soaring House Prices Do Nothing But Push Poor Families Out

On the eve of the Commonwealth and the State/Territory Housing Ministers negotiating the next Commonwealth State/Territory Housing Agreement (CSHA) Catholic Welfare Australia pleaded for additional funds to be allocated to public housing.

National Director, Mr Toby O’Connor said: “Current waiting lists indicate there are in excess of 220,000 families who are in need of affordable accommodation.  The soaring prices of housing in the capital cities means that these families have absolutely no chance of home ownership – not now, not ever.” 

“To make matters worse, these families are paying unsustainably high amounts of their weekly income on rents in the volatile private rental market,” he said.

“It’s easy to forget with the stockmarket hype that accompanies the incredible rise in house prices in almost all capital cities that thousands of Australian families are battling to find affordable accommodation as the stock of public housing cannot keep up with demand,” said Mr O’Connor.  “The state of public housing across the nation is such that the rising maintenance costs associated with ageing dwellings is devouring an increasing proportion of new finances committed by all governments to public housing.  In some cases of desperation State/Territory Housing Departments are having to sell old stock to pay for maintenance on younger dwellings.”

“The re-negotiation of the CSHA is a regular event where all parties cry poor.  It is time for all governments to renew their commitment to a new CSHA.  A new CSHA must include a comprehensive national strategy to achieve housing affordability for all low income families before these families are squeezed further away from educational and employment opportunities as they chase affordable accommodation outside the urban catchment areas,” he said.

Mr O’Connor said that new and radical options are required to solve old problems.  “Catholic Welfare Australia calls on the Commonwealth to exercise leadership to develop new ideas to get the right mix of public and private investment in public housing.  Private contributions from parts of the non-government sector should be explored as part of this mix.”