Community Housing Industry Association chief executive Sarah Toohey says Treasurer Tim Pallas’ 10th budget should set aside more state government land for public and community housing.
“The government would forgo some revenue in sales,but we think what it gets back in terms of value with roofs over people’s heads,not having people sitting in emergency rooms because they’ve had an accident sleeping rough or being picked up by police,adds far more value to the state budget than what these lands sales would have accounted for,” Toohey said.
“We think state land that has been sold and continues to be sold could make an excellent pipeline.”
The association also wants the Allan government to help transform community boarding rooms into self-contained units and appropriately fund tenancy support programs.
Melbourne woman Absa,who came to Australia from Somalia as a refugee in 2003 and did not want her surname used for privacy reasons,saidshe had been waiting for a suitable affordable home for almost two years.
“I’m homeless and I can’t do my studies properly,” she said. “I don’t know what to do. I have nowhere to stay except the public park and other places.”
Coalition housing spokesman Richard Riordan said more subsidised housing built by the private sector was the way forward. The regional Liberal MP insisted Labor’s big housing build had become “a big housing mess”.
“The housing crisis in Victoria can only be reversed with a clear collaboration between government and private housing providers,” Riordan said. “The Allan government has demonstrated through four years of housing mismanagement that it cannot build the homes Victoria needs alone,and must reverse its high-taxing,over-regulated housing market conditions.”
Some planning experts and the City of Melbourne have urged the government to implement inclusionary zoning systems,as done in parts of Europe,which would require developers to set aside a specific number of units in a new housing development for people on low incomes.
Loading
Greens leader Samantha Ratnam accused the government of conducting a state land “fire sale” in the middle of a housing crisis. The party,which can control the balance of power in the upper house,has long called on Labor to drastically increase the number of government-owned and operated homes.
“The Greens have been pushing for a moratorium on the sale of surplus Crown land,until the government has undertaken Treaty negotiations and set aside sites suitable for public housing,” Ratnam said.
“With over 120,000 people on our state’s wait list for public housing,and crisis housing services at breaking point,Labor should be keeping this land and directly building housing.”
An Allan government spokeswoman did not respond to questions about whether this year’s budget would include more incentives for social housing providers. But a Homes Victoria spokesperson did say that more than 7000 households were moved into social housing last year,a year-on-year increase of 29 per cent.
“We are investing record amounts to increase the supply of social housing across the state,” the spokesperson said. “Under the historic $5.3 billion Big Housing Build,we are on track to deliver at least 12,000 new homes for Victorians.”
Australian Bureau of Statistics data released last week revealed that home-building approvals have crashed to their lowest level in Victoria in more than a decade. Labor last year promised to build 800,000 homes over the next decade,the equivalent of 80,000 dwellings a year,a target that industry experts say Victoria will not be able to meet this year.
The 2024 state budget will be handed down on Tuesday,May 7.