“We’re pleased to see the housing tax reforms outlined in the federal budget,” Ms Adams said.
“Housing has been treated as an investment rather than as a fundamental human need, and these changes are the first step to fixing this.”
The Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute reported that the changes to negative gearing and capital gains tax outlined in the budget would help first home buyers by ensuring investors did not have an inequitable tax advantage.
However, the budget did not include any commitment to delivering more social housing, despite growing waitlists.
The Victorian budget, which was released earlier in May, included a pledge to build thousands more social houses in Victoria over 10 years, but Ms Adams said significantly more investment was needed.
“Social housing accounts for just over four per cent of all dwellings in Australia, which is desperately low,” she said.
“In Victoria, things are even worse, with social housing only accounting for about 2.8 per cent of households, when it should be closer to 10 per cent.
“The state government’s commitment to 7000 new social houses over the next decade is welcome, but peak community housing and homelessness bodies are calling for almost 10 times that amount to meet the growing demand.
“It’s also vital that growing regional and rural communities get their share of this housing.”
Beyond Housing aims to deliver over 300 new social housing dwellings across the Goulburn and Ovens Murray region in the next two years, which are predominantly funded by philanthropy and Beyond Housing itself.
They represent up to just five per cent of the total applications on the social housing waiting list in the region.
“To get the social housing we need, the federal and state governments, together with the opposition, must commit to social housing targets nationally, along with a funding pipeline,” Ms Adams said.
“Without this, we can’t adequately address the worsening homelessness crisis and provide adequate support for those who are most vulnerable.”
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