Mission Australia calls on Joe Hockey to chair housing summit
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Version 0 of 1. Mission Australia has called on the treasurer to chair a housing summit after his comments that all people need to be able to buy a house is a “good job”. Mission Australia, which provides social housing amongst its other work, wants the government to take immediate action to “address the growing housing crisis in our major cities”. Its chief executive, Catherine Yeomans, wants a housing summit to be convened so a clear plan can be developed but, wary of it becoming a toothless talkfest, called for Joe Hockey to chair it. “The housing market is broken and the only way it will be fixed is if the commonwealth prioritise it and take a lead,” she said. “Despite his comments this week, Joe Hockey could be the perfect candidate to lead the summit because we need a chair who has the ability to take action, to set policy directions and ultimately sort out this mess.” Hockey has not backed away from comments he made on Tuesday that “if housing were unaffordable in Sydney, people would not be buying it”. He refused to apologise on Wednesday saying he “totally understands” housing is expensive. “From my perspective, I’ve seen over the years how challenging it can be for people to get into housing,” he said. “Interest rates were much higher when I bought my first home, which was a unit, and at that time prices seemed extraordinarily high but what we’ve got to do is help people to get into better-paying jobs no matter what they’re doing.” Yeomans said supply and demand distortions in the housing market were causing social and housing dislocation that, if not addressed, would push people further to the margins. “We need a summit to look at the whole area of housing affordability; the issue of supply, tax incentives driving demand, social and affordable housing and the role of the state and commonwealth governments,” she said. “It is not good enough for the commonwealth to simply say this is just a supply issue that the states need to address.” Yeoman said the debate had focused on first home buyers for too long when the impact of the increasing cost of housing was on those on the lowest incomes. The housing affordability issue encompasses renting as well as buying, with the latest national rental affordability survey by Anglicare finding that, of the 65,614 rental listings nationally on the weekend of 11 and 12 April, fewer than 1% were appropriate and affordable for a single person on government support. The Australian Council of Social Service has consistently called on the federal government to address housing affordability with one of its most recent statements linking homelessness to the issue. |