PM promises investment in affordable housing at summit

THE national Jobs and Skills Summit ended with a promise of a policy by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese that would enable investment in affordable housing by attracting financing from superannuation funds and other sources of private capital.

According to the latest Census, 36.1 percent of Ipswich residents rent their homes. The total number of renters in the Ipswich local authority area was 44,949.

With fewer rental properties available and even two working parent families struggling to find a place to live, news of an investment into affordable housing came at a crucial time.

It was in his closing address at the summit that the Prime Minister committed $575 million to be used to address economic challenges like productivity and labour mobility.

The connection of affordable housing alongside jobs is important because social and affordable housing is crucial to those in the workforce said Community Housing Industry Association CEO Wendy Hayhurst.

“Our existing housing policies are a handbrake on economic growth because they fail to provide the rental housing needed for our workforce,” she said.

“This initiative is a great start at attracting super funds into social and affordable housing and we are committed to working with the Government to build upon it.”

National Shelter CEO Emma Greenhalgh said giving people on low and modest incomes greater housing choice was critically important.

“Regional Australia is screaming out for workers, yet low vacancy rates and skyrocketing rents prevent people moving to the bush or the coast to work in industries such as aged care and health,” she said.

“This announcement is a good start in recognising the economic centrality of providing affordable homes.”

Homelessness Australia’s Jenny Smith also welcomed the announcement and said homelessness and housing stresses were massive economic impediments.

“It is refreshing and reassuring to see the Prime Minister acknowledge and tackle this with concrete measures to expand the supply of affordable homes.,” she said.

Not everyone was impressed though with Queensland Shadow Minister for Housing Tim Mander saying the state government couldn’t be trusted to fix the state’s housing crisis.

“The Palaszczuk Government has no forecasts or targets for how much social housing stock is needed in Queensland,” he said.

“Demand for social housing has never been as high as it is now.“It will take them 25 years to deliver the promised $1 billion social housing fund with only $40 million budgeted to house the most vulnerable.”