(http://www NULL.abc NULL.net NULL.au/news/2013-05-22/refugee-advocates-says-housing-shortage-critical/4705206?section=wa)Housing advocates interviewed by the ABC say the critical shortage of rental accommodation in Perth is worsening, particularly for refugees struggling to establish a new life in WA.

In the interview, Housing Crisis Committee chairwoman Mandy Whitton said despite a petition to the State Government last November calling for swift action to address the affordable rental shortage, many families are still facing homelessness and remain desperate.

Click here to read the article on the ABC website. (http://www NULL.abc NULL.net NULL.au/news/2013-05-22/refugee-advocates-says-housing-shortage-critical/4705206?section=wa)

CHCWA has previously covered the issue of housing humanitarian entrants in our quarterly newsletter, The Insider. Click here to read (page 5 & 6)

The Department of Housing is looking to complete a comprehensive growth and development plan for the community housing sector as part of the broader State affordable housing strategy before the end of this year. The process is due to start in a matter of weeks.

Naturally, the Department will look to develop this plan in conjunction with sector stakeholders. As the peak body for all community housing providers in the State, CHCWA will look to play a vibrant role in this process to ensure that the completed plan is ambitious, achievable and looks to unlock the potential of our sector to ameliorate the State’s social and affordable housing deficit.

Your input on some key strategic questions is vital to help inform our work on this project. To that end, CHCWA is holding a meeting for community housing providers at 10am (so you can avoid the traffic) on June 11 at Claisebrook Lotteries House. The meeting will finish at 12.30 and we will provide lunch.

I would ask that you, or a representative from your organisation, make every effort to participate. We are aware attendance may not be possible for everyone and will provide a way for organisations that cannot make it to participate. More information will be posted to the blog as it becomes available.

In the meantime please RSVP to Dannielle (reception null@null communityhousing NULL.com NULL.au)as soon as possible as we may book a larger venue.

Well, as you’ve no doubt heard ad nauseum over the last few days, federal Treasurer, Wayne Swan, handed down his sixth (and what many consider will be his last, given the polls) budget on Tuesday night.

With the government back peddling at an increasingly rapid pace from producing a budget surplus since last year, and leaking like a SIEV in the weeks leading up to budget night, it was always unlikely that the budget would deliver anything substantial or surprising in the areas of affordable housing and homelessness.

Before taking a more detailed look at what was allocated to housing and homelessness programs let’s take a look at the headline items in the budget:   Read more →

The latest performance report from the Government’s National Rental Affordability Scheme (http://www NULL.fahcsia NULL.gov NULL.au/sites/default/files/documents/05_2013/nras_monthly_performance_report_march_2013 NULL.pdf)(NRAS) shows a marked increase in the roll out of affordable rental housing across Australia.

The report show almost 1,000 homes were delivered under NRAS in March 2013, representing a 65 per cent increase on the previous month.

Nationally almost 13,000 homes have been built and 25,000 are in progress; WA now has a total of 5,538 incentives, reserved and allocated, which is 14 per cent of the national total.

Read more →

The first Sustainable Australia report (http://www NULL.environment NULL.gov NULL.au/sustainability/measuring/publications/sustainable-australia-report-2013 NULL.html), released this morning, has found that inequality has increased during the last 30 years despite the country enjoying a strong economy, low unemployment and higher incomes.

In particular, the report notes housing supply is “not keeping up with demand, and dwelling prices have rapidly increased since 2000. There is a stark, and growing, divide between the opportunities available to residents of the inner suburbs and those available to the residents of outer urban areas.”

The report highlights a number of trends in Australia that are set to have a large impact on the next generation of Australians. Among these are planning for an aging population, growing cities, rising health costs and changes in traditional work and family roles.

The report also says Australians must be more efficient in the use of energy and resources, more respectful of nature, and adapt to the consequences of climate change.

Click here to access the report. (http://www NULL.environment NULL.gov NULL.au/sustainability/measuring/publications/sustainable-australia-report-2013 NULL.html)

The Australian Government has today opened a new round of incentives under the National Rental Affordability Scheme (NRAS).

NRAS Round 5 seeks to allocate incentives for up to 10,000 affordable rental properties across Australia to be built by 30 June 2016.

Read more →

A recently released Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute Investigative Panel (http://www NULL.ahuri NULL.edu NULL.au/publications/projects/p71016/) has focused on the need for, barriers to, and ways to encourage, institutional investment, i.e. investment by banks, unit trusts, superannuation funds or pension funds, in rental housing that is affordable to low- and moderate-income households. Institutional investment is relevant to Community Housing Providers as they are an instrument through which it will occur and it has the potential to provide organisations with new private financing options and support.

Read more →

Access Housing is featured in Volume four, Issue three (pages 106-113) (http://www NULL.australianbusinessjournal NULL.com NULL.au/emag/2013/0304/AUBJ NULL.php) of the Australian Business Journal. The article focuses on Access Housing’s role in key affordable housing issues.

Quick Link  article: http://www.australianbusinessjournal.com.au/access-housing/ (http://www NULL.australianbusinessjournal NULL.com NULL.au/access-housing/)

Instead of pursuing fruitless reforms to the planning system in an effort to increase housing supply, Government should provide adequate funding and other support to Australia’s non-profit housing developers who are targeting the area of greatest housing shortage: housing that is affordable to moderate and low income earners.

That’s the conclusion of University of Sydney academics Nicole Gurran and Peter Phibbs in an opinion piece on The Conversation (http://theconversation NULL.edu NULL.au/home-truths-are-planners-really-to-blame-for-our-housing-shortage-12723).

The recently released National Housing Supply Council’s Housing Supply and Affordability Issues 2012-13 report, which you can read about here, blames land use planning systems for a housing supply failure, and by extension, the affordability problems affecting low and moderate income renters and those seeking to enter home ownership. The NHSC claims that the main culprits in limiting housing supply and pushing up prices are lengthy planning approval time frames, uncertainty over whether planning approval will be forthcoming and how long it will take, and development contributions towards the costs of infrastructure in new developments.

Read more →

The first housing development solely funded by Access Housing (http://www NULL.accesshousing NULL.org NULL.au/)was completed last week, marking a significant milestone for the organisation.

The Burley Street, Mandurah project comprises seven, two-bedroom terraced townhouses. The homes are the first of 260 planned for completion by 2019 under Access Housing’s Community Housing Agreement with the Department of Housing.

The townhouses have been awarded NRAS and will be retained as affordable rentals, with tenancies to be allocated over the next two weeks.

Read more →

Perth does not provide quality affordable housing and the WA State Government has failed in making housing more affordable, according to a recent survey (https://www NULL.propertyoz NULL.com NULL.au/library/B%20-%20FULL%20REPORT NULL.pdf) of residents released by the Property Council of Australia.

The survey shows that of the total number of respondents residing in Perth (603 persons), only 26 per cent agreed that there was a good range of quality affordable housing, while 47 per cent of respondents did not agree, and 27 per cent of respondents neither agreed nor disagreed (see Figure 1). This left Perth ranked the third worst city on housing affordability of those surveyed, equal with Sydney (26 per cent), and only marginally better than Canberra (25 per cent).Perceptions of housing affordability in Perth have also declined: from 34 per cent in 2011 and 32 per cent in 2010 (see Figure 1). Overall then, Perth rates relatively poorly in terms of having a good range of quality affordable housing, and housing is seen as becoming more unaffordable.

Read more →