Funding for housing to be crucial in election build-up

FORGET the ‘Cult of the Leader’ if you can, ukulele tunes notwithstanding, in the run up to the May Federal Election.

Because one of the real issues is the housing affordability and availability crisis in South Gippsland and Bass Coast.

It’s not just a local phenomenon, according to Monash MP Russell Broadbent, but he does acknowledge there have been some specific pressures in south and west Gippsland.

“It’s a huge issue. I had a situation about six months ago where we helped find a house for a single mum, with three kids, at Foster, left homeless after the landlord sold the house, as he was quite entitled to do,” Mr Broadbent said.

“She was only able to find a caravan initially and while the good people of Foster and district responded to our letter, and there was a happy outcome, that’s certainly not been the experience for many.”

Homelessness was a key issue he said, but the lack of rental accommodation was also impacting business.

“We’ve got businesses on Phillip Island, for example, that haven’t been able to open over the summer because there was no where for staff to stay.”

Mr Broadbent was commenting on a homelessness campaign, launched on behalf of Australia’s key welfare agencies including the Salvation Army, Uniting, BaptCare and St Vincent de Paul, by ‘Everybody’s Home’, indicating the crisis is worse here than in other areas.

Where asking rents for all property across Gippsland, according to SQM Research, have gone up 8.4% in the past 12 months (15.9% for units), asking rents for houses in Bass Coast have skyrocketed 31.2% in the year and 25.6% in South Gippsland, if you can find something.

On Realestate.com today, there was only one listing for a rental property of any kind in Wonthaggi, a two-bedroom house for $300. There were several in Inverloch ranging in price from $400 to $600 and some available in Cape Paterson, typically a 3br house for $450.

Local real estate agents say the 31.2% hike in asking rate for rents might be the case for new contracts, but many landlords had held their prices through the past couple of years of the pandemic.

“But yes, we have seen those sorts of increases in recent months, in line with the increased cost of buying,” he said.

According to Everybody’s Home, significant government investment in social housing was needed to end the “affordability crisis” in South Gippsland and Bass Coast.

“Australia’s chronic underinvestment in social and affordable housing is worsening the housing affordability crisis in South Gippsland and on the Bass Coast and also impacting other areas of the Federal Budget.

“SQM data shows asking rents for all houses in South Gippsland have increased by 25.6 per cent over the past 12 months while property prices have surged by 27.6 per cent.

“On the Bass Coast, asking rents for all houses have skyrocketed by 31.2 per cent over the past year and property prices have jumped by 5.5 per cent.”

However, while homelessness was a serious issue, Everybody’s Home said the lack of housing affected the ability to get a job or engage in education, raising the cost of welfare, health and mental health issues and making it more likely people would get involved in crime, drugs and alcohol abuse.

They said there was a huge hidden cost not accounted for in government policy, in the order of $676.5 million per annum currently, rising to $1.286 billion per annum in 2036.

An Everybody’s Home Budget position paper says at least 25,000 new social housing dwellings are needed across Australia to help ease the crisis.

Independent candidate for Monash, Deb Leonard, said the lack of affordable housing had wide implications.

“The lack of affordable housing is having flow-on consequences for small businesses that cannot find staff that can afford to live in the area,” she said.

“Investment in social and affordable housing not only benefits those on low or middle incomes, it creates jobs, supports small businesses and helps build a stronger and more stable community.

“Such development should stay within urban boundaries, and keep in character with the local neighbourhood. While housing is a State planning issue, more Federal funding is need to ensure local people are not priced out of the market.”