THOMAS ORITI:
First this half hour, there’s a growing concern in the housing sector, people across the country continue to feel the pinch due to rising interest rates and low rental vacancies. Well, today the federal government will be introducing legislation to address the shortage of affordable homes with a $10 billion Housing Australia Future Fund. It’s been dubbed as the single biggest investment in social housing that we’ve seen in more than a decade. An independent advisory body called the affordability and supply council will also be introduced in Parliament to help oversee the use of the fund and provide advice to get more homes built quickly.
Julie Collins is the Minister for Housing and Homelessness, and the Minister joins us now from Canberra. Good morning. Thank you for your time.
JULIE COLLINS:
Good morning, and to your listeners this morning.
ORITI:
For those who aren’t familiar, firstly, how will this Housing Australia Future Fund work? It’s $10 billion – a lot of money behind it.
COLLINS:
That’s right. It’s a $10 billion fund which, as you said, is the single biggest investment from the federal government in social and affordable housing in more than a decade. That fund will sit there and the returns from that fund will be invested each and every year in perpetuity in social and affordable housing across the country.
It will be in every state and territory, and it will be in regional and urban areas. What we need to do is get more homes on the ground, and we want to do that as quickly as we can. So this fund will be there in perpetuity with returns going to social and affordable housing.
ORITI:
Okay, I just want to ask you just by way of comparison, there was a previous advisory body; it was called the National Supply Council. It was abolished by the Coalition in 2013 after running for five years. There’s this new affordability and supply council, right? What role will that take and what’s going to be different this time around?
COLLINS:
So the National Housing Supply and Affordability Council will be there to provide independent advice to tiers of government about what levers are available to what tiers of government to be able to get more supply on the ground more quickly. What we need to do is make sure that any interventions or innovations that are being made by tiers of government are based on evidence that they work, that they get more homes on the ground more quickly, but that they be good quality homes in the right places.
ORITI:
Now, this aim – you know, 30,000 new social and affordable housing units over five years – it seems like a lot. And I’m not discounting that it is, but it does seem to fall short when there’s an estimated unmet need of around 437,000 households. An incredible time. Is this enough to address the current housing shortage that we have at the moment?
COLLINS:
Well, as I said, it is a very significant investment – the single biggest in more than a decade. And it is on top of other things that are happening in terms of the 1.5 billion that we provide to states and territories each year. It’s on top of what the states and territories are doing. And we’re working the states and territories, and some of the big states have made some significant announcements today. Victoria last year made some very significant investments and announcements about investing in housing.
What we need to do is get all tiers of government working together, and we have been doing that. We’ve already had three housing ministers’ meetings. Under the former government they didn’t have one in almost five years. So we are working together on trying to get more supply on the ground more quickly. No one tier of government is going to solve this alone; we all need to be working together. And, of course, our housing accord from 2024 is between state and local governments, between the construction sector and community housing providers about how we all work together as well as institutional investors, like superannuation, trying to get them to invest in more affordable housing right across the country.
ORITI:
Sorry, there is still a 400,000‑household shortfall in terms of the number of people who need it – there’s a long way to go here – 30,000 is a drop in the ocean.
COLLINS:
Well, it is on top of what states and territories are already doing, as I said. And it is about getting that advice about what else do we need to do to get more homes on the ground more quickly. We also, of course, have, you know, capacity constraints within the construction sector, which is why it’s really important that we work with the sector about what is achievable, how quickly can we build the homes. And, of course, our housing accord is an aspirational one – 1 million homes across the country from 2024 to 2029. And we’re talking there about homes right across the housing spectrum – so more social housing, more affordable housing. And we've put in an additional $350 million for an additional 10,000 affordable homes and the states and territories have agreed to match that. So we are working as quickly as we can. We’ve also for people who are, you know, having difficulty today, we’ve already unlocked, you know, up to $575 million from our national infrastructure facility, and we already have made some announcements to get construction underway on the ground immediately.
ORITI:
Okay, there are concerns there though. The Property Council launched a report at an event that I understand you actually attended. They say there are hurdles – taxes, levies. They say they are killing the construction industry by preventing them from being able to build new homes. Do you accept that, and is there anything being done to alleviate those pressures?
COLLINS:
Look, it was great to go to the Property Council’s event yesterday. And, you know, I welcome them and their thoughts about what is happening in the sector. But it’s really important that we do get the Supply and Affordability Council to give us advice on what are the best levers, which tier of government has those levers, and how do we utilise them best. Because what we don’t want to do is do something that has adverse impacts elsewhere in the housing market across the spectrum. We need to make sure that we add to supply as quickly as we can, that we make that supply affordable, and that the houses are in the right places.
ORITI:
When do you hope to get advice from the council then? Because everyone we’ve spoken to in terms of social welfare agencies and homelessness advocates and everyone like that are saying there is no time to waste here; this is an urgent need now. People do not have a roof over their heads.
COLLINS:
That’s right.
ORITI:
When do you expect this to be up and running and when do you expect to get advice on how you might alleviate some of those pressures?
COLLINS:
Well, they’re having their first meeting in just a couple of weeks. And I am looking forward to hearing from them about their plans. We already have an interim council up and running whilst we’re waiting for the legislation to go through. And, as I said, we have already unlocked $575 million to deal with getting more homes on the ground as an interim measure while we wait for the fund and the returns from the Housing Australia Future Fund.
We also, of course, have brought forward some of our other election commitments, like the regional first homebuyer guarantee. We have 1700 people already in their first homes because we brought that forward. That helps renters get over the hurdle of deposits. People can purchase their first home with as little as 5 per cent deposit, and that is very targeted so that it doesn’t impact elsewhere in the housing market.
We need to be really careful, as I said, about the intervention and innovations that we do to make sure that what we’re doing is adding to supply and we’re doing it in a meaningful way.
ORITI:
Should we be looking at other countries, though, to see what’s working there? Canada, for example ‑ the federal government recently put a ban on foreign buyers for two years. They’re doing it. Would that have any effect here?
COLLINS:
Well, we are, of course, looking at what is happening overseas. And one of the things that we want to do is to have institutional investment in affordable housing, and we’re looking at models overseas and how that works and getting advice on what we would need to do and what other tiers of government might need to do to make that achievable. And we’re obviously talking to big institutional investors, such as superannuation and philanthropic funds.
ORITI:
Can I ask you about homelessness. It’s my understanding the federal government is going ahead with cutting $65 million to homelessness services. That’s a decision that you opposed when the Coalition announced it wasn’t renewing the National Housing and Homelessness Plan back in 2021.
COLLINS:
Well, we haven’t made any cut. What we have done is we have offered the states a one‑year extension on the existing agreement while we negotiate a new agreement. What we want to do is have a national housing and homelessness plan. We want the plan, the housing agreement and the housing accord to all work together. Because, as I’ve said, we need to not have a piecemeal policy. What we need to do is have everybody on the same page, all working in the same direction.
We want to make sure that we do is add to supply, and we make sure that we’re getting more people in homes more quickly. We need more Australians to have a safe, affordable place to call home – as quickly as we possibly can.
ORITI:
So why is it up to states and territories to cover the gap, though? I keep hearing that we’re sort of giving it to the states and territories. Why? Because we’re hearing that an estimated 650 jobs in the homelessness sector will be lost even as you say you’ve postponed negotiating that homelessness plan to next year.
COLLINS:
Well, I don’t accept that figure, can I say. And what we’re doing here is we’re talking about a $10 billion fund that we’re introducing today, which is the single biggest investment from a federal government in more than a decade in providing more social housing.
ORITI:
While homelessness services are saying they’re losing money and have to cut jobs.
COLLINS:
Well, what we’re doing is we’re actually putting more homes on the ground more quickly to get people into homes. What we need to do is make sure that we add to supply as quickly as we can, and that is what we’re doing. I mean, this investment is the single biggest investment in more than a decade from a federal government into housing.
ORITI:
No question. But is it really the best time to be postponing negotiating a homelessness plan in the midst of a cost of living, a housing and a rental crisis?
COLLINS:
Well, we’re working with the states and territories and other tiers of government. We don’t want to see any services reduced. What we want to see is more services and more homes on the ground. What we need to see is homes being built as quickly as we can, and that’s what we’re working with the states and territories on.
ORITI:
In the meantime, though, prioritising the fact that there does need to be a service for people who don’t have a roof over their heads?
COLLINS:
Absolutely. And that will continue to be the case. You know, we have a housing agreement that’s about $1.5 billion each and every year that goes to states and territories. The states and territories have flexibility on how they use that funding. What we are focused on today is introducing this bill, getting the $10 billion fund up and running so we can get more homes on the ground more quickly. We’ve immediately unlocked the $575 million. We’ve made some announcements, some of them in collaboration with the states and territories, to get those homes on the ground more quickly.
ORITI:
Okay, Minister. We’re out of time. Thank you very much for joining us.
COLLINS:
Thank you.
ORITI:
The Minister for Housing and Homelessness, Julie Collins.