James McGrath (Queensland, Liberal National Party, Assistant Minister to the Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

The previous Labor-Greens government did not leave a single dollar in the budget for the National Partnership Agreement on Homelessness. The coalition allocated funding when it came to government and in this budget announced that funding for homelessness would increase and be made permanent, something Labor and the Greens never did. Labor created an affordable housing agreement without any way of measuring whether it delivered a single affordable house. The coalition's new $1.5 million housing agreement will, for the first time, require states and territories to have a housing strategy and a homelessness strategy that addresses priority concerns which currently include older Australians. The coalition government will also provide $4.5 billion to 1.3 million people this year to assist with rental affordability and has extended assistance with care and housing services for two years as part of the $5.5 billion Commonwealth Home Support Program.