[Greens-Media] (Sylvia Hale MLC) Housing - it’s all talk and no action

[Christopher Holley]

Housing - it’s all talk and no action 

With latest census figures showing that more than one-third of NSW
renters pay more than 30% of their household income in rent, the Labor
Party must put forward a set of concrete proposals to tackle the real
causes of housing stress, according to NSW Greens MP and housing
spokesperson, Sylvia Hale.

“I am sceptical that much will come out of Kevin Rudd’s housing
talk-fest. The Iemma government in NSW has failed to come to grips with
Sydney’s affordability crisis which does not inspire much confidence
in federal Labor coming up with real answers,” said Ms Hale.

“As the Canberra Times economics writer Peter Martin said in a recent
article, ‘Labor's housing summit on Thursday will try to work out how
to do the impossible: make housing more affordable without making it
much cheaper’.

“We’ve had multiple inquiries, papers and conferences on housing
already,” Ms Hale noted.

“The problem for Labor and for Kevin Rudd is that they know that
government taxation policies have turned houses into investment vehicles
rather than places for people to live.”

“If Labor genuinely wants to reduce housing costs for the average
Australian, then a Labor government will act to reduce overall housing
prices by targeting tax concessions and subsidies towards expanding the
supply of affordable rental housing for low and moderate income earners.
That would be genuinely good news for 345,000 households in housing
stress.”

 “Labor obviously knows whose votes it wants to win - and they’re
not the growing army of renters who are excluded from home ownership
while seeing more and more of their income swallowed by rent.” 

“Instead of leaving taxes that encourage speculation in housing
‘product’ untouched, Labor must act to target them towards
increasing the supply of affordable rental properties.

“Those attending the summit tomorrow need to tackle the hard
questions and ask if a Rudd Labor government will commit to:
 
·	increasing the supply of affordable rental properties through
significantly increased funding for new, not-for-profit, community and
public housing,
·	requiring a minimum of 10 per cent of all new housing
developments to be set aside for affordable housing, 
·	changing tax arrangements and offering incentives to increase
the supply of housing at the lower end of the private rental market.

”Those are the real questions the summit should be addressing,”
concluded Ms Hale.

Contact: Chris Holley (02) 9230 3030 / 0437 779 546