Poor and renters ‘unlikely’ to benefit from $25K home cash splash

Poorer homeowners and those who rent will not be able to tap into a generous pot of cash designed to kickstart the state’s construction industry.

A federal government subsidy has been slammed for being elitist with poor people and renters unlikely to be able to tap into the money.

LOGAN homeowners were unlikely to be able to tap into a $688 million federal government home renovation pot of cash announced this week.

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The HomeBuilder scheme will pay $25,000 to homeowners who are undertaking renovations costing at least $150,000.

Shadow Treasurer Jim Chalmers, whose Rankin electorate covers some of Logan’s poorer suburbs, said the money should have been spent on public housing.

Mr Chalmers slammed the program as “pretty inaccessible for the average Australian”.

The $25,000 taxpayer-funded grant will be available to those undertaking renovations worth between $150,000 and a maximum $750,000.

It is also available to those building a new home, which can’t be worth more than $750,000.

To be eligible, couples cannot earn more than $200,000 a year or $125,000 for a single person.

“There aren’t a lot of people I know in our community who have $150,000 lying around,” he said.

“It is also incredibly disappointing that the federal government could find hundreds of millions of dollars for expensive renovations, but not one cent for public housing for people who really need it,” he said.

The scheme requires the State Government to sign a national partnership agreeing to distribute the cash on behalf of the Commonwealth.

State Housing Minister Mick de Brenni said the state had requested investment into a social housing program.

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“That has been an instrument of construction industry recovery in previous economic crises, and I think it should be part of the recovery process in Australia going forward,” Mr de Brenni said.

Industry representatives from the Master Builders Association and the Property Council of Australia, to the Community Housing Industry Association, National Shelter and Homelessness Australia called for more substantial packages.

But Forde MP Bert van Manen said public housing was a state matter and disputed the claims saying the federal government spent $6 billion a year on housing support and homelessness services.

“We also have a $1 billion National Housing Finance Investment Corporation which is earmarked for social and affordable housing, partnering with community housing providers in housing support and homelessness services.”