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THE HON WAYNE SWAN MP, TREASURER

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NATIONAL RENTAL AFFORDABILITY SCHEME – PARTICIPATION BY CHARITIES

The Rudd Government will introduce a transitional safety net to cover charities looking to participate in the National Rental Affordability Scheme (NRAS).

NRAS is a key component of the Rudd Government's $2.2 billion affordable housing package, which will boost rental stocks, help people save for their first home and lower housing infrastructure costs for some entry level housing.

We understand that many people have found rent costs increasingly difficult to meet because of the shortage of affordable rental stock.

The Rudd Government is taking decisive action on the issue of rental affordability, which is why we are acting to make participation in the scheme as broad as possible. A key component of this is to work closely with charitable organisations to encourage their participation in the scheme.
Delivering on an election commitment, NRAS will help build up to 50,000 new rental properties across Australia at a cost of $623 million in the first four years.

If market demand remains strong, another 50,000 incentives for a further 50,000 affordable rental dwellings will be made available over five years from July 2012.

To ensure that the charitable sector can participate fully in the scheme, the Australian Government will introduce a transitional safety net by amending both charity

 

The number of loans for owner-occupied housing fell for the eighth straight month in September, with the first interest rate cut in almost seven years providing little encouragement to potential homebuyers.

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SOUTHEAST Queensland's mortgage belt is worn thin and fraying, and for some at the North Lakes Housing Stress Forum it was about to snap.

How bad is it?

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HUNDREDS of families across Moreton Bay could be forced into homelessness as a result of housing stress.
But a housing stress forum at North Lakes last Thursday found people were not speaking up about the issue.
Christians Against Poverty centre manager Dee Croxon, who was a speaker on the panel, said the forum highlighted the serious nature of housing stress in the Moreton Bay region.
``I think there needs to be some sort of drastic action,’’ Ms Croxon said.
``It’s very serious and there will be a lot of homeless people soon if nothing is done.’’
Ms Croxon said residents needed to speak out.
``I think people need to be honest. If everyone stays quiet because they feel really embarrassed about their situation the government is not going to act, whereas if we have 500 people saying, `we’re about to lose our homes,’ it will have an impact.’’
Federal Member for Longman Jon Sullivan also urged residents suffering housing stress to ``bare their souls’’.
Mr Sullivan said although more than 100 residents turned out to the Federal Government and council-run forum, few were prepared to be vocal about their situation.
``What was obvious was that people here were not ready to bare their soul,’’ Mr Sullivan said.

 

The Australian Government Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs (FaHCSIA) is holding information sessions on service delivery requirements for the recently advertised Financial Management Resource Support Units in remote and regional locations in Northern Territory and Western Australia.

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Homelessness 'out of control' Melanie Christiansen From: The Courier-Mail October 16, 2008

HOMELESSNESS is "grossly underestimated" and in danger of spiralling out of control, warns a Brisbane welfare services manager.

 Carol Birrell, who manages the Spiritus family and women's support services, dismissed the official estimate of the number of homeless Australians - 104,676 people - as just the tip of the iceberg.

And she said existing services to help the homeless were "grossly inadequate".

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Towns burst into lifeFrom: The Sunday Mail (Qld) July 06, 2008

SOME of Queensland's oldest towns and regions are reinventing themselves as fast-growing communities where modern families want to live.

As housing affordability becomes a life-changing issue in major centres across the state, areas that have been overshadowed in recent decades by boom-time developments in Brisbane, the Gold Coast, Townsville and Gladstone are now stepping up with viable living solutions.

And many of these growth towns are communities that enjoyed boom times last century, battled through tough periods in more recent times, but have re-emerged as appealing and attainable locations for families looking to escape the rat race.

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July 01, 2008

THE Federal Government must develop housing strategies for older people to prevent a looming crisis, a seniors group said.

The newly-formed Housing Affordability for Seniors Alliance says the number of older people under housing stress has doubled to 115,000 over the past four years.

A person is considered to be under housing stress when they spend more than 30 per cent of their income on servicing their housing loan.

Aged and Community Services Australia (ACSA) said tight rental markets and interest rates were forcing many older people into public housing.

"We (the alliance) are very concerned that all of the housing discussions focus on younger people and working families, because research shows older people have significant housing problems," ACSA chief executive Greg Mundy said.

"And with the ageing population, things are only going to get worse."

The alliance is holding a forum in Canberra tomorrow to develop strategies to increase the supply of affordable rental housing.

It wants the Government to include older people in its national plan to tackle housing affordability.

Mr Mundy said failure to do so could have negative ramifications in other areas such as health.

"If you pay over 30 per cent of your income on housing, then you are not going to be spending enough on food and healthcare, particularly if you are on the aged pension."

"If the Government doesn't act there are going to be repercussions elsewhere, like the health system."

"So there is a positive reason for governments to act because  

 

I am pleased to announce that the National Policy Commission on Indigenous Housing met for the first time today in Canberra.

The Minister for Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs, Jenny Macklin, and I attended this meeting.

I announced last month the National Policy Commission would provide advice to the Government on innovative proposals to improve the provision of housing in remote Indigenous communities.

The Commission has started work on a number of priority activities. Read More

 

 

Social inclusion swindle
| May 17, 2008 From: The Australian
ONE of the more disturbing features of the Rudd Government is its propensity to base its policies on concepts that lack definition altogether or are defined so broadly that it renders them meaningless. Working families is one such concept; social inclusion is another. Since the election in November last year, the Government has formed a committee of cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister, appointed a Minister for Social Inclusion (Julia Gillard) and a parliamentary secretary (Ursula Stephens), established a unit within the Prime Minister's Department to deal with it and set about putting in place a social inclusion board. Finally, the Government has articulated what it believes the focus of social inclusion policy should be: homelessness, jobless families, disadvantaged children and locational disadvantage.

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