Brendan Lyon: Dire public housing failing those most in need

NSW is the richest state, in one of the richest countries on the planet; yet there are 60,000 people on the public housing waiting list, says Brendan Lyon.

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INFRASTRUCTURE Partnerships Australia, the organisation I lead, is no stranger to asset sales or tough reforms. We worked closely with the stat government on the lease of the poles and wires.

It was a difficult debate, but the best case won, and that decision generated a windfall for the state that has been instrumental in preparing us for the future.

But while infrastructure is synonymous with railways, roads, dams and other big projects, social infrastructure, such as public housing, public health and the like, is every bit as important. The point is that public housing is infrastructure, it’s infrastructure that’s not working for the community or for taxpayers, and it’s an issue that I care about just as deeply as the poles and wires.

This weeks’ State Budget and Labor’s Budget in reply are likely to focus on assisting first homebuyers; and (quite correctly) on investing the asset recycling funds into major transport infrastructure in Sydney and across NSW. But there’s a better than even chance that public housing will rank only as an afterthought, if at all.

NSW is the richest state, in one of the richest countries on the planet; yet there are 60,000 people on the public housing waiting list, and probably the same number again who would qualify, but have not applied.

Public housing is consuming itself, just to keep the paint on the walls, says Brendan Lyon.

The failure to modernise and properly fund public housing sees single people living in five-bedroom public homes, while others go without.

For those who are in public housing, one in four people live in dwellings that fail to meet the housing department’s own most basic standards. The NSW public housing system sees too little money, supporting too few dwellings, which are of too-low quality, to deliver what’s needed.

The past decade and a half has seen modest experiments, like transferring the management of public housing to Community Housing Providers, or CHPs, as well as doing property developments on public housing sites.

Brendan Lyon.

These very modest changes have delivered very modest results.

The transfers of public housing to CHPs has helped at the margins through better maintenance and (vastly) better tenant management.

But these asset transfers give CHPs an asset, but no revenue to maintain or improve them.

It’s like we are giving the community housing providers an old bomb of a car (the house), but without any fuel to run it (the revenue).

Public housing is consuming itself, just to keep the paint on the walls.

While the solutions are complex, the problem is simple. The only way to fix a shortage of funding is to provide more money, and to ensure it is spent well.

Last year, we released a paper outlining the core problems and solutions in public housing, instead of just the symptoms.

With political leadership and bureaucratic determination, NSW could deliver a public housing system that is financially sustainable and high quality; and we could grow the publicly-funded housing system to reach those on the waiting list. Good public housing supports good community outcomes, minimising homelessness and providing a platform for integrated services to help vulnerable households.

Just like the poles and wires, we need to stop putting bandaids on a broken leg. Public housing needs to be better funded and totally reorganised — public housing should be about the people it serves and their needs — not the housing department and its wants.

Brendan Lyon is the Chief Executive of Infrastructure Partnerships Australia and released ‘From housing assets, to housing people: Fixing Australia’s social housing system’ at the National Press Club last October.