Andrew Wallace (Fisher, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

On behalf of the Standing Committee on Social Policy and Legal Affairs, I present the committee's report entitled Shelter in the storm—COVID-19 and homelessness: Interim report of the inquiry into homelessness in Australia, together with the minutes of proceedings.

Report made a parliamentary paper in accordance with standing order 39(e).

by leave—I'm pleased to present Shelter in the stormCOVID-19 and homelessness. This is an interim report of the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Social Policy and Legal Affairs inquiry into homelessness in Australia.

According to the 2016 census data, more than 116,000 people are homeless or living in insecure or substandard housing in Australia. That's a rate of 49.8 homeless persons for every 10,000 of our population. Homelessness is not distributed evenly either. Certain geographic, demographic and social groups are particularly vulnerable to homelessness and are overrepresented among the homeless. At the outset, it is important to recognise that housing and homelessness is the principal responsibility of the state and territory governments. That said, the federal government provides some $6.2 billion in assistance to the sector in the form of $4.6 billion a year in a Commonwealth rent assistance, and $1.6 billion to the states under the National Housing and Homelessness Agreement. It provides concessional loans for community housing providers and housing development infrastructure, to name just a few. I note the Treasurer announced last night in the budget that an additional $1 billion of low-cost finance will support the construction of affordable housing, taking the concessional finance available to CHPs to $3 billion.

Even as the committee's inquiry commenced in February 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic was arriving in Australia. As the virus spread, the committee quickly realised it would have major implications for people at risk of or experiencing homelessness and the governments and organisations who work with them. After suspending the inquiry briefly in response to the virus in May 2020, the committee reopened submissions and called for evidence, particularly on the impact of COVID-19 on homelessness. We encouraged community groups and others to share their experiences in responding to the pandemic. By the beginning of October, the committee had received close to 200 submissions, most of which discussed the COVID-19 situation, some in great detail.

Between June and August, we spoke to 40 government and non-government organisations at five public hearings, many which were held by teleconference. I'd like to express the committee's great appreciation to the many people and organisations who have taken the time and made the effort to engage with us and contribute to this inquiry at a time when they had much more to deal with on their plates.

The evidence received by the committee shows the COVID-19 pandemic has affected those at risk of or experiencing homelessness in a range of ways, most of them negative. COVID-19 has increased and complicated demands for services and responses from all levels of government. It has imposed new challenges and additional pressures on the numerous hardworking community organisations that support and assist people facing homelessness and housing insecurity across Australia.

This report summarises the issues and perspectives raised in the evidence received by the committee in relation to COVID-19 and homelessness in Australia. The committee considered it was important to present this interim report now so that the evidence could be considered by the executive in a timely way, even though the pandemic and its effects are yet to be fully realised. The interim report does not make recommendations, as both the COVID-19 situation and government's response to it continue to evolve. Rather, the committee encourages the Australian government to consider the evidence offered in this report and take it into account as it continues to formulate its immediate and long-term responses to the pandemic, including in cooperation with the states and territories.

I hope this report can contribute to the efforts of governments at all levels to respond appropriately, compassionately and wisely to the problem of homelessness in the time of COVID-19. Homelessness existed before the pandemic and will sadly, surely, endure beyond it. However, the current circumstances create a particularly urgent challenge and opportunity to ensure that as many Australians as possible are safely and securely housed—that they can find shelter in a storm.

The committee's inquiry is not complete and we will continue our work of examining the problem of homelessness in Australia, in accordance with the full terms of reference. We will present a final report, including recommendations, at the conclusion of the inquiry. I'd like to take the opportunity to thank my deputy chair and all members of the committee for their hard work. It has been a challenge doing most of this inquiry over videoconference and teleconference, but, hopefully, we'll get some good outcomes as a result of it. Until then, I commend this report to the House.

Sharon Claydon (Newcastle, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

by leave—As deputy chair of the Standing Committee on Social Policy and Legal Affairs, I appreciate the opportunity this afternoon to say a few words on the interim report that the committee has today tabled in the Australian parliament. This is the first opportunity we've had to respond to the interim report. I thank the chair, the member for Fisher, and I would like to join him in thanking colleagues for their contributions to this important inquiry, with a shout-out to the secretariat, as well as everybody who took the time to make a submission and/or appear as a witness before this inquiry. We certainly note and appreciate that you were asked to make a contribution to a really critical issue in Australian social policy at a time you were probably most stretched and most pushed as providers of housing in Australia—during the COVID-19 pandemic.

We certainly had a housing crisis before COVID-19, but the pandemic has left so many more Australians vulnerable and exposed. Veterans; young Australians; First Nations people; older single women; and women and children fleeing violent relationships are all groups of people who have experienced shamefully high levels of homelessness. And we now have a shortage of almost half a million social housing dwellings in Australia. Add to this the perilous state of the economy and the fact that the moratoriums on rental evictions are now drawing to a close at the same time that income support is being reduced, and you have a recipe for the rapid deterioration of what was already a crisis situation. The problem is urgent and it demands an urgent response.

Given this, I will put on record Labor's disappointment that the interim report on homelessness has been released today without any recommendations. I note that the chair made the comment that there will be a final report with recommendations later in the year, but this is budget week. This is the week when governments very clearly set out for the nation the priorities of government. This report is silent on recommendations to address homelessness in this very important week, and I think that is a missed opportunity. But make no mistake: submitters and witnesses to our inquiry have had a very clear and consistent message for the committee and for the federal government, which is: 'Invest in building new social housing and repair existing stock. And do it now.'

One particular proposal identified as the Social Housing Acceleration and Renovation Program, or SHARP, had the support of many submitters. We know that investment in social housing works because we've already done it. Indeed, the former Labor government invested more than $5 billion in the construction of nearly 20,000 new social housing dwellings and repaired a further 80,000 existing public housing properties as part of its response to the global financial crisis. As Ms Wendy Hayhurst from the Community Housing Industry Association said, SHARP, the Social Housing Acceleration and Renovation Program, offers 'an immediate opportunity to kickstart both our country's post-COVID recovery and reductions in the social housing shortfall'. But, despite this clear message, yesterday's federal budget offered nothing to address this diabolical social problem.

I note the chair's mention of the budget measure around NHFIC and being able to extend the cap to—from memory—$3 billion, but I note that the next dot point immediately after that in Budget Paper No. 2 said that the government was now going to spend some money doing an independent review of NHFIC in order to see if it was in fact meeting the aims of Australian housing and obligations in that regard. That worries me. It worries me greatly if the government doesn't have confidence right now that that fund is doing what it is meant to be doing. I think that is a matter that this committee may need to explore further.

As I said, there wasn't a single dollar in the federal budget last night for social housing, despite the fact that we know it would deliver some of the biggest impacts that we could get for our budget dollars right now. Rather than increasing the common wealth and building homes for vulnerable Australians, the Morrison government instead focused on giving money to existing property owners to undertake very expensive renovations in their homes—renovations that were probably already going to take place, if truth were told. That does raise a question for me around the priorities that were mapped out. If a budget sets out the government's priorities, I have concerns now about what those priorities are.

If there's one thing we've learned from COVID-19, it's that, when there is political will, we can move mountains, so I remain forever optimistic that, notwithstanding what appear to be some insurmountable policy problems, we can put ideological objections to one side and do what is good for Australian citizens. There can be no more important job for a government than to ensure safe, secure, and affordable housing for its citizens. It is a very base need for every person in this country, and it is the responsibility of governments from all jurisdictions. Indeed, that is an issue that the committee will need to tackle. Housing and homelessness is everybody's problem. We've heard that repeated by witnesses again and again. The Commonwealth has a leading role to play in that. Perhaps there is an opportunity to make better use of the national cabinet to devise a framework that might find sustainable solutions to housing and homelessness in Australia. We need the government to really take that leadership role and see if it can make some serious inroads into what has been a truly wicked and complex problem across multiple jurisdictions in Australia. As such, the Commonwealth needs to step up, do the heavy lifting and take a leadership role in bringing the states and territories along with it.

Everybody needs a home. It's time really for the government to ensure that that is a lived reality for the Australian people.

Andrew Wallace (Fisher, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That the House take note of the report.

Steve Georganas (Adelaide, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The debate is adjourned. The resumption of the debate will be made an order of the day for the next sitting.