The Urban Development Institute of Australia applauds the Treasurer’s 2022-2023 Federal Budget which backs the housing and construction industry to prime the economic recovery and start tackling the affordability crisis.“The Federal Government Budget delivers on some important areas which will drive the economic recovery, bringing back migration and stripping away some of the barriers to delivering housing supply,” said Max Shifman, UDIA National President.The budget includes several measures which mirror UDIA’s advocacy and our 2022 Federal Election Platform – ‘A Plan for Prosperity”.50,000 places will be made available annually under the Home Guarantee Scheme, including 10,000 places dedicated to Regional Areas and 5,000 for single parents, to ensure Australians can buy a home sooner by reducing the deposit hurdle.“We are pleased that Government has listened to the UDIA’s calls to expand the already successful Home Guarantee scheme and make it a permanent fixture of the annual budget.”Increasing NHFIC’s liability cap by an additional $2.0 billion, to $5.5 billion to support around 10,000 more affordable dwellings for vulnerable Australians is an important policy that will bring more new housing into the market. Increasing NHFIC funding and boosting supply has been a mainstay platform for UDIA National and it is a welcome increase that paves the way for further measures that bolster affordable and social housing supply. “The importance of boosting supply across the housing spectrum cannot be underestimated – without it, the escalating affordability crisis will tip more and more Australians into crisis and overwhelm government funding,” said Mr Shifman.The previously announced $128.5 million environmental budget reforms package sets Australia on the pathway towards a simple, streamlined system for preserving critical flora and fauna.“These are a well-balanced set of reforms that show Government has a thoughtful approach to the environment and the economy,” said Maxwell Shifman.Net overseas migration is expected to return to normal levels – 180,000 arrivals are forecast for 2022-2023 and 213,000 arrivals are expected in 2023-24. This is critical for Australia, as this comes closer to closing the migration gap that has setback the economy and industry over the last two years during the pandemic.“This is a key recommendation from UDIA National in our pre-budget submission and a critical step to close the gap in immigration numbers and make back ground lost in 2019-21. This is fundamental – Immigration is crucial for the economy and needs to return to normal levels soon, to safeguard the economic and social advantages it provides,” said Shifman.$120 billion funding commitments were announced for road and rail infrastructure projects over the next 10 years to build city shaping infrastructure that will boost jobs and pave the way state and territory governments to deliver the enabling infrastructure needed for housing.“Lack of major and enabling infrastructure is blocking delivery of housing across Australia – these initiatives are crucial to righting the imbalanced housing market,” he said.“As we shape our cities and regions, we need to keep a sharp focus on measures that will deliver the housing Australian’s are crying out for. City shaping infrastructure needs initiatives working with the states and territories to streamline planning and approvals and deliver enabling infrastructure to deliver a pipeline of development ready land,” said Max Shifman UDIA National President.“Government’s 2022/23 Budget presents a solid foundation and delivered some vital initiatives to start accelerating Australia’s economic growth. These are some positive first steps towards closing the housing affordability gap for Australians.The heavy lifting and leadership is what we now need to see, working with the State and Territory governments to fix housing supply and deliver coordinated city shaping infrastructure and urban development to meet the needs of Australians,” commented Shifman.
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