NFP To Push NSW on Housing Fund Election Pledge
31 March 2015 at 10:34 am
The NSW peak advocate for housing justice, Shelter NSW, says it will work with the re-elected Coalition Government to honor the Premier’s campaign pledge to establish a new fund of up to a billion dollars to help finance new social and affordable housing.
“This initiative recognises that additional effort is needed to increase the supply of affordable rental housing for our state’s low and very low income households, beyond new land release,” Shelter Executive Officer, Mary Perkins, said.
Mick Baird’s Coalition Government was returned to office in NSW with a reduced majority after the weekend election which saw a swing to the Labor Party of 10 per cent.
“Shelter notes that the State’s coffers are in good shape, thanks to strong stamp duty revenues flowing from the very speculative investment boom that is pushing up prices and hurting thousands of lower income households in NSW,” Perkins said.
“Shelter hopes that the Government contribution to the new billion dollar funds is additional to any existing commitments for housing program funding.
“There is a shortfall of over 100,000 rental properties that are available to low and very low income households at an affordable price, and the new housing financed through the promised fund must make significant inroads into this shortage.
“We look forward to working with the Government and others in the community sector to make the fund deliver for low income households.”
Shelter NSW has released a list of the 10 most important actions needed from an incoming Government to genuinely tackle housing affordability.
“We will be pursuing this comprehensive package of measures in conversation with the new Government,” Perkins said.
“Without such a suite of measures, it will be impossible to make lasting progress in this area, and make a real difference to the lives and futures of hundreds of thousands of households, and to the state’s economic future.”
