News

The new Commonwealth Government Budget announced on Tuesday 25 October includes welcome commitments to affordable housing and new housing supply, in particular formalising housing policies that the Labor party took to the May 2022 election.

Rapid house price rises and reduced rental affordability have been the unforeseen consequences of the pandemic, and policy responses to date have been ineffective, according to new AHURI research.

No one sector can supply Australia’s needed social and affordable housing, increasingly it needs to be financed, developed and managed by partnerships of government, community-based and market providers, according to new AHURI research.

Homelessness NSW has released its evaluation of the Homelessness Industry and Workforce Development Strategy 2017-2020, undertaken by AHURI’S Professional Services team. The evaluation has five key components: ‘Did the Strategy achieve its goals?’; ‘Did training and workforce development meet sector needs?’; ‘Are organisations across the NSW Homelessness Industry sustainable?’; ‘What needs to happen in the next Strategy?’; and ‘How competent are services in serving Aboriginal clients and communities?’

The Productivity Commission’s newly released review on the National Housing and Homelessness Agreement (NHHA) has found the Agreement to be ‘ineffective’ and that there should be focus on ‘improving the affordability of the private rental market and the targeting of housing assistance’. As such, the Commission considers that the NHHA ‘should be expanded to include all government-provided housing assistance including Commonwealth Rent Assistance and first home buyer assistance.’ This finding, together with many of the recommendations in the report, is consistent with AHURI’s submission and advice to the review.