Government investment in social housing is helping stabilise rents

Today AAP reported that government investment in social housing is helping stabilise rents.

Well let me just pick my jaw up from the floor, because who on earth could have thought that more public housing might be a solution?

Oh that’s right. Everyone (but also us here, here, here, here and here and… well you get the idea).

Public and social housing is one of the major aspects missing from the Australian housing puzzle for well over 25 years. Way back in the mists of time (you know the 1960s and 1970s) public housing was not a rarity. Each year around 120 new public sector dwelling were being built per 100,000 residents. It’s why when Anthony Albanese talks about how he grew up in public housing, it actually doesn’t quite have the same meaning as it does now.

Public housing was not uncommon. I grew up in a small town in South Australia. My dad was a public-school teacher and for a few years we lived in a house owned by the state education department, and we lived in an area with a large numbers of public housing. It wasn’t great by any means, but not rare.

But the shift away from public-housing began in the 1980s as neoliberalism took hold, and really let fly after 1995. From the turn of the century, less than 20 dwellings per 100,000 residents have been built each quarter:

So, the long-term situation is bad. That is a lot of years of the public sector abandoning the field to the private sector to undo. Add in that since 1999 the private sector has also had the 50% capital gains tax discount and you end up with a housing market where the private sector is supercharged and given free reign.

So no, the 5% deposit guarantee is not going to undo anything.

But the good news is that there is a slight increase in the public and social housing.

If we look at the period since the GFC stimulus, the past year does look more promising – a nice increase in the number of public-sector dwellings being built.

But there is such a long way to go.

The government plans under the HAFF to build 55,000 social and affordable homes in 5 years. That works out at around 40 per 100,000 residents – or more than double the 15 currently being built.

You don’t undo 25 years of housing policy failure with a few tweaks. We have Defence Housing Australia. Why not Nurses Housing Australia, or Teachers Housing Australia, or… Housing Australia.

The capital gains discount clearly needs to be repealed but governments around Australia need to recommit to building public housing like was common back when the dream of owning your own home was a realistic ambition.