Yahoo Finance Federal budget 2018 'abandons' renters, first home buyers
Furious affordable housing advocates have delivered a blistering review of a federal budget they say has “completely abandoned” renters, first home buyers and people in desperate need of shelter.
Adrian Pisarski from National Shelter said that apart from some spending on remote housing in the Northern Territory, the budget had done nothing to boost housing stock.
“I don’t know how we go in one year from housing being the centrepiece of the budget to the next year being completely abandoned by the treasurer,” he told reporters in Canberra on Tuesday.
“That’s a tragedy in Australia and a real lost opportunity.”
Mission Australia chief executive James Toomey said despite census figures confirming rising homelessness, the government had ignored the issue.
“The government has missed another opportunity in the budget to address rising homelessness and provide a national plan to meet the critical shortage of affordable housing for those on the lowest incomes,” he said.
“The absence of a plan is short-sighted and will only lead to greater social and economic dislocation down the track.
“I am very disappointed by this year’s virtual silence on both homelessness and affordable housing.”
Property Council of Australia chief executive Ken Morrison said the budget “packs a powerful infrastructure punch”, but housing affordability was still a concern.
“We need the funding, but we also need the planning, we also need to tackle the regulatory issues, to make sure we’ve got the housing our population as it grows needs,” he told reporters.
