PROJECT SUMMARY

Every night more than 116,000 Australians are homeless. Over the past decades, rents have been growing faster than incomes, particularly for low income earners. That means more people paying more rent than they can afford, and more people left without a home at all. Homeownership has been declining for decades as well, particularly among young people. And now, with one million Australians out of work, and cuts to JobSeeker and JobKeeper payments, tens of thousands of Australians face the prospect of losing their homes. Covid has highlighted fundamental flaws in our housing system.

The deepening economic crisis has already resulted in thousands of job losses in construction, with contracts projected to decline more severely in 2021. As housing construction is an important employer, and building social housing is a proven way to stimulate the economy and generate jobs, this has presented a fresh opportunity to secure a social housing stimulus. Everybody’s Home has been working to leverage this opportunity and build support for investment in the Social Housing Acceleration and Renovation Project (SHARP), launched by Everybody’s Home in partnership with the Community Housing Industry Association, National Shelter and Homelessness Australia. The SHARP has already gained the support of the broader community sector, as well as the property and construction industry, unions, and economists.

PROJECT ACTIVITIES

So far, the campaign has been focused on (1) increasing media coverage on the importance of including social housing, (2) coordinating national action from across the community sector and participation in Homelessness Week 2020, and (3) engaging MPs in discussion about social housing investment, largely through the Social Housing Pledge.

With social housing investment not secured in the October 2020 Budget, the campaign now needs to increase momentum around the arguments for social housing as stimulus through to the May 2021 Budget.

Highlighting the problem: Everybody’s Home will make the housing crisis a top tier issue by building a sense of growing urgency around increased homelessness and rent stress, and framing the issue as a problem that demands action from the Federal Government. This work includes research on the impact of Covid on homelessness, which has already been funded by a number of Australian Communities Foundation sub-funds. A parallel effort will amplify the sense of crisis around growing construction job losses, and reinforce the messages that local jobs can be created with social housing investment.

Building a solutions narrative: Alongside this problem narrative, Everybody’s Home will develop a compelling solutions narrative about the value created by providing homes for those who need them.

Connecting MPs and securing commitments: The campaign will connect MPs to the growing sense of crisis and to proposed solutions and secure commitments to action by making the issue relevant to their local community.

IMPACT

Social housing is the most important change needed to reduce homelessness. Access to housing people can afford prevents them becoming homeless in the first place, and if they do lose their home, means homeless services can rapidly rehouse people in a new, affordable home.

WHY NOW?

The current crisis presents a moment of opportunity: the prospect of achieving a significant social housing investment is greater now that social housing construction can contribute to economic stimulus, more so than at any time since the Global Financial Crisis. If we don’t act now and advocate for government investment in social housing while Government spending is focused on stimulating the economy, the subsequent fiscal restraint will make this investment very difficult to secure later.