Housing
Housing Affordability
Housing affordability is a major problem for low to middle income households in both the rental and home ownership markets. Affordability is most severe in the private rental market where one in four low income private renters pay more than 30 per cent of their income on rent.
In the last decade:
- rents have increased at twice the rate of inflation
- the proportion of low rent homes has fallen by about 15%
- opportunities to rent public housing have fallen by about 20%
- average house prices relative to inflation have almost doubled
These are problems that governments can address with the right mix of policy solutions. To be effective, these solutions need to focus on increasing the supply of affordable rental housing. This is because the undersupply of affordable rental housing relative to demand is a driving cause of rising rents.
In order to ensure all relevant government policies are mobilised to increase the supply of housing, VCOSS advocates for a state affordable housing plan. The plan should include planning, taxation, land disposal, and public and community housing investment policies.
VCOSS believes the State Government needs to:
- Invest more in public and community housing
- Reform planning law to ensure developers include affordable housing in new developments (this process is called inclusionary zoning)
- Use well-located surplus government land for new affordable housing developments
- Introduce a shared ownership scheme to make it easier for low-income households to purchase their own home. This would involve home buyers sharing the cost of home purchase with either a Government or non-profit agency
- Ensure services for people who are homeless are better resourced to meet the rising demand
VCOSS advocates in our State Budget Submission, via lobbying and in the media.
VCOSS also collaborates with other organisations and individuals via Australians for Affordable Housing and Housing Justice Roundtable.