“You will find housing failures at the centre of most social services challenges. It is either a cause or a consequence.”
Last week the Minister for Social Services, Scott Morrison, delivered a strong speech on the need for affordable housing.
He said: “You will find housing failures at the centre of most social services challenges. It is either a cause or a consequence.
“It is an area where our federation is failing us. We are spending more than $10 billion a year and making very little progress,” he said.
“Housing provides stability and certainty needed for individuals and families to deal with the many challenges they face – unemployment, the breakdown of relationships, a place to care for those who need care, a place of refuge from violence and the list goes on”.
Demand outstripping supply
The challenge is that the supply of housing is simply not keeping up with demand. Social housing stock is static at around 400,000 units.
Among the many complex causes is the lack of seniors downsizing. With people living longer, big family homes stay locked up from the housing market – often with only one elderly person living in it.
While Morrison did not emphasise this point himself, underutilised family homes represent a waste of a vital resource in many of the older parts of our cities – homes close to existing schools and transport and other necessary infrastructure services for families. Instead we are spending money on new homes, new schools, services and infrastructure in ever far-flung fringe suburbs where young families are forced to go because they don’t have other choices.
As a society, we need to start thinking about making downsizing a responsibility. If we don’t, we may one day be forced to do so, most probably by a new tax. That would be fair in my books.
