preface
Much has been said about finance and the supply side of affordable housing. Because of the diversity of affordability issues, reviews are also different for affordable housing.
The terms affordable housing and social housing are sometimes used interchangeably, which can cause confusion. Affordable housing is more inclusive – it represents the aspirations of all those who cannot access the housing market. This includes ownership and rent.
Social housing is a form of affordable housing. It includes public housing and housing owned and managed by non-profit community housing providers. In addition to housing those who cannot access the market, community housing providers can accommodate persons with disabilities and those fleeing domestic violence.
A “hot” political issue
Affordable housing is a “hot” issue. Gladys Berejiklian, new South Wales’s new premier, recently made it one of her three priorities.
The federal finance minister says supply constraints are pushing up house prices. He targets national planning laws. Federal politicians like this explanation because supplier complaints can be used to blame state and local governments. This helps to divert attention from federal fiscal policy, which effectively subsidises home ownership.
Nearly 200,000 Australians are on waiting lists for social housing. In addition to the public housing stock, nonprofits provide about 100,000 homes.
The scale of the affordable housing problem depends in large part on mortgage stress. This, in turn, is most closely related to household income and employment levels. The mortgage pressure is not particularly concentrated in capital cities.
That combination of affordability could add about 2m Australians who “don’t have the resources to bounce back from unexpected bills”.
Ways to improve housing supply
NAHA is called Australia’s Housing policy and is a “national partnership agreement” of the Australian Government Council (COAG). Its biggest component is social housing. The National health accounts, which federal ministers put at a $1.3 billion a year, have not been very successful. This is because it does not increase “the quantity and availability of public and social housing stock”.
Others responded like this:
Australia’s social housing system remains severely underfunded. The resources currently available are not even adequate to maintain existing product portfolios, let alone support new supply to keep pace with growing demand. … For the market sale of public housing, all the stock is eaten up, and the total stock is exhausted due to lack of repair and maintenance. The history of public housing is that, after World War II, housing was referred to simply as “entitlement.” Public housing was designed to accommodate all classes of people. At first it was not a refuge for the poor. If operating costs are not included, maintenance is inadequate. When this happens, the number of habitable units decreases. Social housing is vital for low-income tenants. The high cost and limited availability of rental housing is a feature of affordability issues. It also highlights the inequality between homeowners and tenants due to their fiscal policy interests. These require funds to expand the size of nonprofit social housing.
Another way to promote an increase in the supply of affordable housing is through inclusive zoning.
This approach requires a certain proportion of land to be rezoned and new housing projects on government land to become affordable housing. Another benefit is that it improves job opportunities for low-paid service workers. Inclusive zoning has long existed in Europe, the United States and South Australia. The scale of social housing provided by non-profits can be expected to increase, but this will take many years. Government rent assistance is still needed. Inclusive zoning is desirable and can serve low-income families, but it will never replace the need for social housing.
