A damning new report by social housing organisation Everybody’s Home has accused the government of creating a housing crisis by subsiding landowners and homeowners, and says urgent tax changes are needed to alleviate inequality.
The report claims that tax cuts have resulted in a quarter of a trillion dollar black hole in the budget, and says that the cost of investor tax breaks over the next decade could have instead funded more than half a million social homes across Australia.
It comes at a time when the country needs to build 1 million homes over the next two decades to prevent a homelessness crisis, with states already falling behind annual targets.
Speaking on the report, Everybody’s Home spokesperson Maiy Azize said that decades of “investor handouts” meant the government was now spending less than half on social housing than in the 1980s.
“In the midst of a major cost-of-living crisis, the federal government is spending record amounts on housing to line the pockets of investors. That has made renting and buying homes more expensive than ever,” she said.
“Tax handouts for investors will be a quarter of a trillion dollar mistake if the government doesn’t change tack. Giving money to investors is a choice. If the government wants to make housing more affordable and fairer for all Australians, it can choose to put money into homes instead of investor profits.”
The report urged a number of changes, including serious tax reform and long-term investment in social housing. It also calls for major reform to Commonwealth Rent Assistance (government funded rent assistance) to help those on low incomes, including expanding access to those currently ineligible.
“The government must take action to make housing affordable. We’re calling on them to abolish unfair tax handouts and build the homes we need,” Azise said.
She said if adopted, house prices would reduce, investment in new builds would grow and price pressures in the rental market would ease.
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