REPORT FINDS NEED FOR 200,000 HOMES
AUSTRALIA faces a social housing time bomb with a looming shortfall of almost 200,000 homes within 10 years, according to social housing provider Compass Housing Services.
A report released by Compass Housing Services finds state governments have limited capacity to house the people on waiting lists and that the federal government needs to step up.
It shows Queensland has a current waiting list of 25,853 and a predicted 10-year shortfall with population growth of 31,445.
Report lead-author Professor David Adamson said despite good intentions, the states had lost control of the issue and the problem was now too big for them to handle.
“There are approximately 169,000 households on social housing waiting lists across Australia and under the current system most of them will never be allocated a property,” Prof Adamson said.
“Over the next decade the states and territories are planning to build just 66,000 social housing properties.
Even if they hit their targets, they will have undershot the existing level of demand by 60 per cent or more than 100,000 homes.
“If you include the additional demand from population growth over the period in question the shortfall increases to more than 196,000 homes.”
Report co-author Martin Kennedy said the problems facing the social housing system were part of a broader housing crisis that had been building for 30 years.
“Home ownership rates have collapsed, the share of renters in housing stress is increasing and social housing waiting lists are out of control,” Mr Kennedy said.
“The Commonwealth insists social housing is a state responsibility but that arrangement isn’t working.
“If we keep expecting the states to fix a problem that is clearly beyond them, an increasing proportion of the population will experience socially damaging levels of inequality and financial hardship.”
Everybody’s Home national spokeswoman Kate Colvin said a growing number of people on low and middle incomes could not compete for housing in a booming private sales and rental market.
She said homelessness services and other health and welfare services would be overwhelmed unless the federal government stepped up.