Maria Vamvakinou (Calwell, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

[by video link] In my contribution to the debate on Appropriation Bill (No.1) 2020-21 and associated bills I want to speak about the failure of the government's budget to recognise and address the very serious social and economic problem of social housing and homelessness in Australia, a crisis of which we're yet to see the full extent because it's expected to get worse as the COVID-19 income protection measures and other rental support and eviction moratorium measures are scaled back.

As more and more people are pushed to the edge of or into homelessness, there has never been a more urgent time for a federal government response. The 2020 Australian Homelessness Monitor found a significant gap between the number of homeless people seeking permanent housing and the availability of permanent housing. The COVID-19 pandemic has created a situation where homelessness will continue to be a problem in the long term, but this problem will be exacerbated further because of the decline in investment, especially by the Commonwealth, in social housing. The state governments are becoming very much aware of this looming crisis, with my own state of Victoria already indicating that the Victorian government will invest in social housing. The question at hand is: why didn't last week's federal budget respond to this crisis?

Such is the gravity of the problem that the 2020 Australian Homelessness Monitor's lead researcher, Professor Hal Pawson, is calling for a revival of the social housing program and saying that the Commonwealth must play a far more active role in tackling the problem. Professor Pawson clearly states that, although the contribution of the states is encouraging, the scale of the investment needed to seriously expand Australia's social housing stock is such that it can only happen with the Commonwealth government's commitment and leadership. Professor Pawson also made the point that last week's federal budget was indeed a wasted opportunity. With the current national shortfall of social housing being more than 433,000 properties, with over a million people losing their jobs and unable to afford their rent in the private rental market, a large number of Australians will be pushed into homelessness, thereby putting more pressure on the existing stock.

The federal government has squibbed the opportunity to show leadership on this issue largely because it seems to believe, as the Prime Minister said today in question time, that it has already done the heavy lifting and it's now up to the states. Australia's homelessness and housing crisis is a complex, multifaceted, looming national crisis and the Commonwealth has a lot more to do.

I want to commend the Minister for Families AND Social Services for her announcement in the weeks prior to the budget of some money at least to build affordable houses for women fleeing violence. Women and children affected by family violence are certainly one group of people who are increasingly affected by the crisis in affordable housing in this country, and any measure to support them is welcome. However, as I have said, the housing crisis is much broader than this, and a much more concerted effort by the federal government is needed. Data shows that women over the age of 55 are the fastest-growing demographic facing homelessness. Many of them are facing homelessness as a result of the death of their partner or divorce. These are women who gave up opportunities for a career, who did not participate in the workforce, in order to raise families and to look after their household. They don't have superannuation. Alone and with their children—for those that have them—now grown, they often find themselves destitute, struggling to make ends meet and, in many cases, homeless.

Two-thirds of primary social housing tenants are women on low incomes. It's extremely disappointing that the government has not seized the opportunity in this budget to seriously tackle the housing crisis and, in particular, to invest in social housing. I recently had the opportunity to speak via Zoom—as we all do these days—with members of the Northern and Western Homelessness Networks. This group represents 28 specialist homelessness and family violence organisations managing 100 homelessness programs operating in Melbourne's northern suburbs. One of the programs, Everybody's Home, conducted research in my local constituency and found that there are over 900 people experiencing homelessness in Calwell at this moment. The number is probably much higher given that many people are sleeping on the couches and floors of friends. Not all of them contact housing services. They suffer in silence until everything in their life falls apart. Many are women from non-English backgrounds who are fearful and totally powerless to leave violent marriages because they have nowhere to go. The lack of options in the private rental market and the intense shortage of public and social housing means a shortage of some 3,000 social housing properties in my electorate alone. As a result, the housing services in my electorate are forced to place people in motels just to get them out of sleeping in their cars or in parks for a few nights. It seems that these people will have very little chance of ever securing permanent housing because of the shortfall.

The Northern and Western Homelessness Networks research supports the anecdotal evidence my electorate office is approached about constantly. We've seen and continue to speak to people who are desperate for stable, safe and functional accommodation. We get calls on a regular basis from people who have been on emergency public housing waiting lists for years. Compounding the problem of a lack of affordable social housing is also the fact that Calwell has settled the lion's share of the refugee and humanitarian program. Almost all who have come from Iraq and Syria in recent times have settled in my electorate, where there is a growing community of people who seek to belong and to prosper. Affordable housing and a job are the two most important things that enable newly arrived migrants and refugees to begin their lives in Australia. Without either, they face the real risk of being unable to move forward.

Public housing has been the great enabler of migrant settlement in this country. It's a no-brainer, then, that investment in affordable housing makes for a stronger community both socially and economically. A lack of housing goes hand-in-hand with major barriers to employment and with disruption to education for children and young people, compounding the stress of those with major physical and mental health problems. A lack of affordable housing impacts workforce participation and stifles economic growth and our health and wellbeing as a nation. If this doesn't make it a national priority, I don't know what does.

If this budget is really about jobs, jobs and more jobs, as this government has framed it to be, then why not prioritise and put some money into social housing as a national policy response to a social and economic crisis? For every dollar invested in building a house, you create $3 in the economy. If you put aside all the pertinent arguments about the need to tackle housing insecurity and homelessness, what about the importance of construction to the economy? Why wouldn't you adopt the Leader of the Opposition's plan to invest in social housing, both repairing and renovating existing stock and building new stock, to help our builders and tradies back into immediate and productive work? Every housing organisation in the country called on the government to put more money into social housing in this budget. The Master Builders Association, the Property Council and the Housing Industry Association all called for more government money for social housing. They called for it because it would mean keeping their members in work, and this 'jobs, jobs and more jobs' budget has let them down. The budget has also let the people in my electorate down. My electorate, as well as experiencing a shortage of social and affordable housing, has large numbers of residents who have lost their jobs or small businesses, particularly in the construction industry. There are tradies of all varieties, support staff and small manufacturers on the construction supply chain who are desperate for work. We need to stimulate the sector to get them back into meaningful work.

In February this year, 1.2 million people were employed in the construction industry. As a result of COVID-19, the construction industry is forecast to decline by 13 per cent during 2020, compared to a six per cent drop in GDP more generally. Surely it makes sense to directly stimulate this sector by investing in a program such as the Community Housing Industry Association has proposed. The Social Housing Acceleration and Renovation Program aims to develop 30,000 additional social housing units through not-for-profit community organisations, but using private builders. Such a program has the potential to create up to 18,000 jobs as well as much needed social housing. These homes could be built in both metropolitan and regional areas, with the potential to boost local economies, increase social revitalisation and provide housing security for many Australians.

Building affordable houses in regional areas would go a long way in addressing one of the significant impediments to encouraging people to move into regional Australia and take up jobs there. This would help revitalise regional Australia and simultaneously take pressure off the urban cities. This government has been particularly keen to revitalise and grow regional Australia and to address the demand for workers in the farming and tourism sectors. Success in encouraging Australians and new migrants to move out into the regions depends on the availability of jobs, but it also depends on affordable housing. With imagination and foresight in this critical policy area, an astute federal government should be showing leadership and leading the way in a coordinated national response, not looking away in the hope that the states will pick up the slack. Last week's budget failed to do this. Contrast this with Labor's budget in response and the difference couldn't be clearer.

Labor has a plan to address our social housing crisis, and it comes with a jobs plan. We can start with fast-tracking urgent repairs to existing social housing. Labor is calling on the Morrison government to create work for thousands of tradies in almost every suburb and town across Australia, including suburbs in the federal seat of Calwell, by investing half a billion dollars to fast-track urgent repairs to social housing. Twenty-five per cent of Australia's social housing needs repair and maintenance. That's some 100,000 homes. Some of these homes have problems such as mould, leaking roofs and water damage, while others are simply unfit for people to live in. People shouldn't have to wait for the Leader of the Opposition to draw attention to the disrepair and unlivable state of social housing before action is taken, though I'm sure that Nathan Anderson from South Australia was relieved that the Leader of the Opposition visited his mould ridden apartment recently. Action has now been taken, and the family has been given a new home.

Much needed repairs in social housing across the country could start immediately and could provide work for local plumbers, carpenters, electricians, plasterers and painters as well as companies that manufacture building supplies and materials. This would also provide opportunities for apprentices. We're already hearing of tradies losing their jobs—28,000 carpenters, 15,000 concreters and 9,000 electricians in the last year alone. They are fast becoming the middle-class poor, and many live in my electorate.

The people of my electorate, I'm certain, will welcome Labor's plan to prioritise and address social housing and homelessness. Ahead of the next election, Labor will bring forward a comprehensive plan for the repair and construction of social housing. This will involve an immediate $500 million contribution from the Commonwealth and a partnership with the states with the expectation they will contribute up to the same amount in new funding. This is what a Commonwealth government doing heavy lifting looks like. I call on the government to act immediately to address the crisis in social housing and homelessness in Australia.

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