The community housing industry are calling on the NSW government to use next week’s State Budget to unlock a major expansion of community housing.
Community housing differs from social and affordable housing – Community housing is generally managed by housing providers, social is generally managed by the government, while affordable housing is driven by developers and provides less housing security and higher rents.
Community Housing Industry Association (CHIA) NSW CEO Luke Achterstraat said community housing was a critical piece of the housing puzzle and needed to be backed by long-term investment.
“We’d like to see a commitment of $2.3 billion per year to a long-term program of upfront capital grants and government land contributions to help sustain a generational increase in social and affordable housing supply.
“These asks would complement the NSW Government’s $6.6 billion Building Homes for NSW program by supporting the delivery of more social and affordable homes where they are needed the most.
“Housing supply must come in all forms and that includes increasing social and affordable housing through not-for-profit community housing providers.”
Community housing providers provide more than 67,000 safe, secure and affordable rental homes for people who are unable to access appropriate housing through the private market, while leveraging government investment to attract additional finance and increase supply.
Mr Achterstraat said the upcoming Budget presented an opportunity for the government to accelerate the delivery of social and affordable housing across NSW.
“We can’t rely on supply as a single solution. We need planning reform, we need more supply and we need targeted investment in social and affordable housing.”
With a state election approaching, Mr Achterstraat also called on the Opposition to outline its own housing plans.
“People across NSW want solutions, not political point-scoring,” he said.
“Criticising government housing policy is easy. Voters deserve to know what alternatives are being proposed and how they will help people struggling to keep a roof over their head.
“The housing puzzle is sitting in front of us. Community housing is one of the key pieces. The NSW Government cannot afford to leave it in the box.”
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