Home ownership and supply was front and centre for Federal MP Jason Falinski, at today’s special presentation on UDIA National TV.
Speaking ahead of this week’s release of his recommendations from the Inquiry into Housing Supply & Affordability, Mr Falinski MP, Chair of the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Tax and Revenue, said housing is for everyone, from private homeowners to those who need access to social housing.
Urban Development Institute of Australia agrees.
“The goal of home ownership is intrinsic to the Australian psyche, yet it is becoming increasingly out of reach. The pressure to fund safe affordable housing across the housing continuum is increasing. Much of Australia is experiencing an unchecked affordability crisis which is restricting access to home ownership and housing choice across different socio-economic groups,” said Maxwell Shifman, National President, Urban Development Institute of Australia.
Mr Falinski MP, posed the questions to the audience that if you think ownership matters, affordability matters and affordable housing matters, you will enjoy reading the report being tabled on Friday.
“Having a place to live is critical and it is just as important that the people living in it own the house.” he said.
“There are massive benefits to home ownership that improve society. We have trouble providing those society benefits without home ownership.
Critically, Mr Falinski MP pointed directly at lack of supply as a key feature of the problems we face with housing.
“We looked at all the underlying causes and the more we looked, the more it came back to supply… long term home ownership and price stability depends on supply.” he said.
He pointed out that not every solution to improve delivery of homes to Australians has to be expensive and involved. He noted the excessive delays in planning approvals and the need for infrastructure to enable delivery of housing.
“We can fix a lot of the constraints…just by sitting down and figuring out how we administer it better.”
Urban Development Institute of Australia couldn’t agree more, as highlighted in its comprehensive submission to the Inquiry.
The common thread impacting across the entire housing spectrum is the imbalance of supply and demand, which ultimately feeds into housing affordability.
UDIA National’s own State of the Land Report 2022, confirms critically low housing supply in key cities of Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne is restricting housing delivery and holding back families from finding a home, pushing more and more Australians who need government support to find a home.
Balancing supply and demand across the housing spectrum will have the greatest impact on access to housing. The Federal Government needs to put the aspiration of home ownership and supply across private, affordable and social housing, at the centre of its thinking, to help more Australians realise their dreams,” said Mr Shifman.
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