Social housing build a third of population growth rate

Social housing stock in Australia has grown at just a third of the rate of population growth over the last decade, a new analysis finds.

Social housing is not keeping up with population growth, a new study concludes.

Social housing stock in Australia has grown at just a third of the rate of population growth over the past decade, a new analysis finds, prompting calls for the ­Albanese government to double the Housing Australia Future Fund to $20bn.

The study finds public and community housing has now contracted to just 4 per cent of the nation’s total housing stock.

The analysis contained in the pre-budget submission of peak social housing advocacy group Community Housing Industry Association finds public housing had increased by 5.2 per cent, or 21,744 units since 2012, while the population had increased by 15.1 per cent.

The submission said the level of unmet housing need across the nation was currently 640,000 households and expected to hit one million by 2041.

It proposed that the Albanese government use its favourable budget position to double its investment in the $10bn Housing Australia Future Fund, which recently opened for applications.

“Using a true measure of supply that takes into account population growth, the provision of social housing has effectively more than halved since the early 1990s” CHIA chief executive Wendy Hayhurst said.

“Australia’s housing system has failed catastrophically to ­respond to soaring need.

Community Housing Industry Association chief executive Wendy Hayhurst.

“The government’s commitment to fund 40,000 new rental homes through the HAFF and the National Housing Accord represents significant initial steps in reversing decades of national housing policy neglect.

“But commitments to date are simply not enough to meet the sheer scale of demand from Australia’s lowest income households as rental availability vanishes and costs soar,” Ms Hayhurst said.

The HAFF and National Housing Accord Facility opened for applications a fortnight ago, with more than 250 eligible groups formally expressing interest in accessing finance.

Developers and financiers exploring their options include Lendlease, Stockland and Tetris Capital.

The housing construction market has been hit by climbing interest rates and the high cost of materials. Housing Minister Julie Collins has described the new social housing government funding as “a shot in the arm for the home building industry”.

The CHIA submission makes the case to double the HAFF commitment, saying it would increase the number of households built, enable more housing types to be funded, and offer more flexibility in funding streams.

“Channelling the additional investment returns to an expanded social housing program could be done without increasing inflation, as this could simply enable us to extend the program beyond 2030,” Ms Hayhurst said.

The Brotherhood of St Laurence also released new research on Monday on the key crunch points in the cost-of-living crisis, noting housing insecurity was a critical component.

“Affordable, secure housing is central to economic security, yet single parents, newly arrived migrants and those unable to work found it particularly difficult to meet their housing costs,” the study says.