Publication Format: Submission

Anglicare Australia welcomes the opportunity to provide feedback on the Productivity Commission’s Housing supply regulation inquiry interim report.

The increased public discussion of Australia’s housing crisis has led to many politicians, policy thinkers and commentators coming to different conclusions about where the heart of the problem lies and proposing their own silver bullet solutions. Many have settled on the idea that a simple lack of supply is driving the housing crisis, and that slashing regulatory burden on developers is the answer that will suddenly make housing affordable.

With the Intergenerational Report estimating that Australia’s population will reach 40 million over the next 40 years, ensuring there is enough affordable housing for everyone will be vital to tackling inequality. However, slashing red and green-tape and alleviating regulation for private developers and wealthy investors, with no care or consideration for the kinds of housing being built, or the wider environment will not solve the housing crisis as it exists and will not ensure homes are available to every Australian into the future.

This submission argues that Australia must rebuild social housing at scale. That growth must include both public and community housing, as well as Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander housing, and represent genuine additions to the social housing system. Anglicare Australia recommends:
▪ establishing a binding national target for social housing to comprise at least ten percent of
Australia’s housing stock within twenty years;
▪ establishing a long-term, Commonwealth-led and funded program to deliver the net
additional social housing needed to meet that target;
▪ expanding both public and community housing, alongside Aboriginal and Torres Strait
Islander housing, while protecting existing social housing stock;
▪ independently report progress each year, counting genuine net additions and distinguishing
them from replacement, transfers and reclassification; and
▪ introduce fair limits on rent increases to protect people in the private rental market while
Australia rebuilds its social housing system.