Housing Affordability
Monday 06 March 2017
The escalating price of homes amid stagnant wages is excluding first home buyers from entering the market but renting in the inner city is also ‘extremely unaffordable’. The inner city’s diversity is at risk and people who help it function like teachers, nurses and police can’t afford to live here.
The government will establish a housing affordability strategy for first home buyers but it must include the inner city and address rental affordability. In Parliament, I called for a mandated 15 per cent target for social and affordable housing in redevelopments, developer levies and a fairer tax system and warned that change to short term letting laws must not worsen affordability. The government also needs to revive its Affordable Housing Taskforce which hasn’t released anything since a 2012 interim report. My speech is HERE.