Earlier this month, the Federal government released its discussion paper to prompt debate about the scope and ambition required of the much anticipated National Housing and Homelessness Plan. The Federal Housing Minister, the Hon Julie Collins MP clearly has high expectations.

In her introduction she explains the Plan ‘will set out a 10 year national vision’, cover the ‘full spectrum of housing issues’ and ‘identify gaps’ in current responses and ‘set out policy objectives for the future’. National leadership is recognised as fundamental to achieving success.

The Plan should be an opportunity to tackle the systemic issues that have led to rising levels of rental stress and declining home ownership. As the 2023 Intergenerational Report makes clear today’s young people face major housing ‘challenges’ which not only impact on their own quality of life and employment prospects but could feed, if not resolved, into Australia’s productivity performance. This is a concern shared by Australia’s leading economists and experts surveyed and then reported in  Housing: Taming The Elephant In The Economy, the overwhelming majority of whom thought policy makers ‘should pay greater attention to the economic productivity effects of housing market outcomes’ and as a recognise  ‘metropolitan housing market distortions such as sub-optimal labour market matching due to high prices and rents are impairing economic growth and productivity’.

For lower income households rising housing costs and the failure to build much social and affordable rental housing have pushed many households into poverty and a rising number into homelessness. Again the impacts are felt by the individual but also economy wide. Based on 2016 data the report Costs of Inaction found that  ‘the current social and economic costs (foregone wider benefits) from the affordable housing shortage is almost $677 million (nominal, undiscounted) per annum. Based on the projected shortfall in social and affordable rental housing in 2036 this cost would increase to approximately $1,290 million (nominal, undiscounted), per annum’.

To tackle these issues will require more than one off housing programs, planning and tenancy reforms. It will require changes to policies not typically under the control of agencies ‘responsible’ for housing such as tax, benefits and financial regulation. It will also mean decisions on migration and infrastructure investment must be made taking into account the impact on housing supply and affordability.

A national housing and homelessness plan is long overdue. It must tackle the systemic issues though we recognise that more contentious issues such as tax settings will take longer to resolve. In the shorter term the Plan at the very least should include actions and targets and provide funding to address the current shortfall of social and affordable rental housing, and future needs, i.e. a projected 942,000 homes by 2041.