A lack of new funding for social housing in the federal budget will push more Australians into poverty, according to advocates for the homeless.
Social housing and homelessness services were largely absent from , with one of the few new funding measures going towards the extension of a cheaper loan scheme for community housing providers.
The sector is meanwhile bracing for an influx of need following the end of coronavirus emergency measures.
More than $41 million will be cut from national housing and homelessness funding in 2021-22, down from almost 1.6 billion this financial year, before gradually increasing funding back to similar levels in 2023-24.
The National Housing and Homelessness Agreement (NHHA), announced in 2018, provides around $1.5 billion in federal funding to states and territories each year to support the creation of affordable and social housing and homelessness initiatives.
State and territory governments have primary responsibility for managing housing and homelessness services, but Homelessness Australia chair Jenny Smith said the reduction in federal funding would have “devastating” consequences.
“The Treasurer had a choice to make, and he has chosen homelessness for tens of thousands of Australian families,” she said.
“Without increases in social housing and with even less resources for homelessness services, many families will become stuck in homelessness for a long time.”
Advocacy groups and Labor say the lack of investment in social housing missed an “opportunity of a lifetime” to create thousands of jobs while ensuring enough affordable homes in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.
“We now face a perfect storm for homelessness to increase – with people who have lost income ‘trading down’ to cheaper rentals, and squeezing out people on the lowest incomes,” said Kate Colvin, spokesperson for the Everybody’s Home campaign.
Mission Australia chief executive James Toomey said ensuring enough affordable homes for Australians was a “national responsibility” that had been ignored.
He also warned the lack of investment would lead to more people being pushed into unsafe living conditions.
"Building and infrastructure is a great way to develop the economy coming out of a recession ... and social housing is a great way to make sure not only are jobs created but also that appropriate social housing is created when there are about 180,000 people in Australia on the social housing waitlist," he told SBS News.
“At a time when homelessness is likely to increase, the government has again deserted the needs of at least 116,000 people who are homeless and the thousands who are teetering on the edge of homelessness in severe rental stress during the recession.”
Opposition leader Anthony Albanese has flagged Labor would commit to an additional half a billion dollars for maintenance and repairs to about 100,000 social housing buildings ahead of his budget response speech on Thursday.
"I grew up in public housing, in Campbelltown, the son of a single mum who was a pensioner. I understand firsthand from my own lived experience the difference a secure house makes to your life," he said.
"This budget is a lost opportunity. What we know is that the low-hanging fruit in terms of creating jobs, in construction, for tradies, is in public and social housing."
There are fears homelessness services and social housing waitlists will be overrun with people in need of support following the end of the eviction moratorium, introduced in the wake of COVID-19 shutdowns, and mortgage relief measures.
Ben Spies-Butcher, an Associate Professor in Sociology at Macquarie University, told SBS News the sector needs a direct injection of investment, which “didn’t happen in the budget”.
A number of emergency measures, including the deferral on mortgage payments, the moratorium on evictions and the JobKeeper and JobSeeker payments, will soon be wound back, meaning many Australians will struggle to afford rent or need to move into cheaper housing, pushing others out of the market.
“That combination of forces is really likely to see an increase in people at least in insecure housing, if not homelessness,” Mr Spies-Butcher said.
“We know that all of these were emergency measures designed to stop what would have happened straightaway with the pandemic as people lost their jobs … but we need a plan about how we go back to normal.”
Treasurer Josh Frydenberg handed down his second budget on Tuesday, months after it would usually be released due to the coronavirus pandemic.
It revealed unemployment was expected to peak at 8 per cent in December, before gradually falling to 6.5 per cent in 2022 as economic activity slowly recovers.
“It’s very clear that employment is not going to rebound quickly enough to be able to deal with [the winding back of emergency measures],” Mr Spies-Butcher said.
“We are going to have a lot of people who either don’t have jobs or don’t have enough hours.”
Australia is facing a once-in-a-lifetime economic crisis with a deficit of $213.7 billion and net debt reaching $703 billion this financial year as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
