Rebekha Sharkie (Mayo, Centre Alliance) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on the National Rental Affordability Scheme Amendment Bill 2019. When the National Rental Affordability Scheme was introduced by the then Labor government back in 2008, the stated aim of the scheme was to provide financial incentives to increase the supply of affordable rental housing, to reduce the rental costs for low- to moderate-income households and to encourage large-scale investment and innovative delivery of affordable rental housing. The scheme seeks to achieve this by providing investors with 10-year contracts through both state and federal funding and by specifying rent for more vulnerable Australians to be provided at 20 per cent below the market rate.

In South Australia, the impact has been significant. As at June 2019 there were 3,542 allocations under the scheme in South Australia. Considering that we have just seven per cent of the population and given that we have 10 per cent of the scheme, I think that's quite a commendable uptake. A practical example of the scheme, and one that I've worked in, was called HYPA Housing. For more than 20 years, HYPA Housing had just seven units, but because of the NRAS we were able to expand that program. Not only were we able to expand that program to 39 units but that small amount of money that we could get from NRAS meant that I was able to manage a social worker to support young people across all 39 units. I was also able to have a youth worker installed part time in the afternoons so that the young people, aged 17 to 25, who were in that transitional housing were supported to study and to learn living skills—cooking and financial support. It really was an excellent program at HYPA Housing. I urge every member of this place to go and visit the HYPA Housing properties. I'm sure that Service to Youth Council, SYC, would be very pleased to accommodate you. Importantly, the program was designed to move young people out of the homelessness circle and into the private market. It's about exiting homelessness for good, and that could only happen because of the NRAS program.

With respect to this bill, we know that it's to amend the act to clarify certain provisions and specify that the objects of the NRAS Act are to be achieved by protecting tenants and investors, providing rights to investors and recognising state and territory contributions to the scheme. What I think is really important, and other members have touched upon this, is that initially the NRAS scheme was supposed to have 50,000 new rental properties across Australia at a cost of $623 million, but, unfortunately, in the 2014 budget—the budget that continues to haunt Australia—just 34,000 places were budgeted for, and it was capped at that. That budget also provided that the scheme would conclude in 2026.

I don't think the government sees what's coming here. What's going to happen here, because we are not continuing to refresh and acquire new stock, is that at the end of the scheme we are going to have many people who own an NRAS property take that property and increase the rent by 20 per cent—or perhaps more, as they will no longer have a contract with government—or sell that property. We will greatly reduce the stock of affordable housing.

In August this year I attended the Adelaide Hills, Fleurieu and Kangaroo Island Housing roundtable, an event designed to assist the South Australian government to formulate a comprehensive housing strategy. The event brought together stakeholders from across the housing sector to discuss the issues that we are seeing at the coalface in our community. I might just say, with respect to my community, it is incredibly hard to find a private rental that is affordable if you are on a low fixed income; it is impossible if you are on Newstart or youth allowance.

I would urge this government to plan for the future—because it has what is essentially a crisis ahead of it. If you think homelessness rates are high now, just give it a couple of years, when all of this stock will leave. We need to be encouraging mum-and-dad investors to be part of the social housing mix. While the scheme did have a few teething issues to sort out, I think it was a commendable scheme. It's not just about creating more government stock housing; it's about having the private sector involved in social housing. The government has a huge storm awaiting it if it does not address this issue soon.

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