With national Homelessness Week highlighting the crisis being felt across the nation, social housing providers in the Goulburn Valley have called on federal politicians to pass what they say is a key bill before the parliament.
The bill would create the Housing Australia Future Fund, which the Federal Government says will generate returns over the long term, to provide annual funding for social and affordable housing around the country.
Social housing providers BeyondHousing and YWCA Australia, which are both committed to social housing developments in Greater Shepparton, have urged politicians not to wait for the perfect legislation and to instead act now and pass the current bill.
“Yes, definitely,” YWCA Australia general manager of community housing Charlotte Dillon said.
“We’re really supportive of the future fund. It is a good starting point.
“There’s always more that can be done, but the longer that’s actually delayed it’s delaying getting houses on the ground and construction started and people moving into these new homes that need it.”
The bill is also supported by BeyondHousing chief executive Celia Adams.
“I think it would absolutely make a difference,” she said.
“I get quite annoyed at some of the debate and, what is it? Perfection is the enemy of good. We can wait for things to be perfect and in three years’ time we might not have delivered a single property or we can accept that it may not be perfect, but my God, we’ve got need now.
“Somebody needs to do something now.”
Under the legislation, an initial $10 billion would be deposited in the fund, which the government says will enable funding, capped at $500 million per year, to pay for an annual social housing allocation.
The government claims that would see 20,000 homes built in the first five years, 4000 of which would be allocated to women and children leaving domestic and family violence, and older women on low incomes at risk of homelessness.
It said 10,000 homes would also be provided to “frontline workers” such as police, nurses and cleaners.
The legislation had earlier this year stalled in the Senate due to the Coalition and the Australian Greens both blocking it.
The Albanese Government has reintroduced it to the House of Representatives though, in a move critics say is designed to give Labor a double dissolution trigger that could lead to an early election.
The Coalition has said it opposes the bill because it relies on the investment in the fund outperforming the cost of the borrowed money, saying the housing should be funded directly from the the National Housing Finance Investment Corporation.
The Greens want more money, $2.5 billion a year, spent on social and affordable housing, as well as a two-year rent freeze to be followed by caps on rent increases.