The Northern Rivers Times
January 11, 2024!!!
38 REAL ESTATE NEWS
Foreign investor Capacity crunch: AIHW stats reveal reform a good overwhelmed homelessness services Homelessness Australia step but the govt must take on all investors Everybody’s Home Everybody’s Home says foreign investment changes are a good step, but the government must now end handouts for domestic investors. In a bid to boost housing supply, the government has announced it would increase fees for foreign investors who leave properties they own in Australia vacant. Everybody’s Home spokesperson Maiy Azize said the measure won’t be enough to fix the rental crisis. “This is a step in the right direction, but it won’t solve the housing crisis,” Ms Azize said. “Right now, domestic
investors are the ones pushing up the cost of housing and profiting from tax handouts - and an empty home is an empty home, regardless of who owns it. “If the government is serious about making homes more affordable, it would end the tax handouts that are used by a significant number of investors. “This means abolishing negative gearing and capital gains tax. The billions we raise can go into desperately needed social housing. “Investors can’t keep pushing up the cost of housing for everyone else. The government must get serious about tax reform for all investors, not just those who live overseas.”
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The number of people already homeless and sleeping rough when they seek help surged in the last year, as skyrocketing rents and record low vacancy rates pushed more people into homelessness. Analysis of Australian Institute of Health and Welfare statistics released today shows: • The number of people who are already homeless when they seek help increased 5.5% in 2022-23; • The proportion of individuals sleeping rough when they first approached homeless services increased 17%; • There was a 16% increase in people exiting
homelessness support to rough sleeping, and a 12% increase in exits to institutions like prisons or acute mental health facilities, and; • Exits to private rental decreased by 2%. “These figures are a stark and alarming indicator of how the deepening housing crisis is pushing more Australians to sleep in their car, pitch a tent or couch surf,” said Colvin. “It’s very hard to work or learn when you have no roof over your head or a real prospect of getting a home.” “The data also reveals that homelessness service capacity hardly increased in 2022-23 despite surging demand, with the number of clients supported across the year increasing only
1.3% from to 272,694 to 273,648; a fall of 16,814 from those assisted when funding to homelessness services was temporarily increased during Covid.” As the Government crafts its National Housing and Homelessness Plan, Homelessness Australia is pushing for a realistic blueprint to end homelessness within a decade. “Ending homelessness is entirely doable as we saw during COVID,” Colvin said. “We need substantial investment in social housing, sustained focus on the causes of homelessness, and a significant boost in funding for homelessness support services.” The Government must also deal with a $73 million funding black
hole currently looming for homelessness services. This relates to Federal funding for the Equal Remuneration Order (ERO) supplementation for homelessness services to cover the wages of the workforce. Funding to cover the cost is in place now but expires in June 2024. “Australians are facing a housing and cost of living crisis that is pushing more people into homelessness. Without more funding for critical homelessness first responders, we risk seeing these trends worsen, putting more Australians in jeopardy of experiencing the harsh realities of homelessness.”
Government urged to act on rental crisis Everybody’s Home Everybody’s Home is urging the Albanese government to act on the rental crisis by listening to the people on the frontline who continue to bear an unaffordable, unfair housing market. In the final report from the inquiry into the worsening rental crisis, the majority of Senators have ignored evidence on the need to limit rent increases, protect renters’ rights, and reduce Australia’s reliance on private landlords. But Everybody’s Home spokesperson Maiy Azize says the government still has the power to act. “The housing system in Australia is broken and renters are paying the price. Unaffordable rents, insecure tenancies, inadequate rights everything is working against a cohort of Australians who are growing in number and
increasingly finding themselves renting for life,” Ms Azize said. “The experts, advocates and ordinary Australians who came before the committee were clear - rentals must be affordable, decent and safe. Tenants shouldn’t be forced to pay huge rent increases year after year or live in unsafe conditions because there’s no better
alternative. “Yet the Senators would not agree to do the things that need to be done to fix the system. “The Albanese government has the power to end the rental crisis. We need an end to Australia’s social housing shortfall. We need limits to unfair rent increases, an end to no-cause evictions, minimum rental
standards, and real enforcement of rental rules. And we need a fairer tax system for housing. “The federal government can’t just head into the new year hoping the housing crisis will fix itself - sticking to the status quo will only make the situation worse.”
