Home in Place launches One-in-Ten Target 

Government needs to get building to halt housing pain

In response to Australia’s deepening housing crisis, Home in Place is launching a bold initiative: the government must build one in ten new homes. With a Federal election looming and candidates already on the campaign trail, the call for real solutions to housing affordability has never been more urgent.

Introducing the ‘One in Ten’ campaign

Millions of Australians are struggling to find safe, secure housing—a basic human right.

The “One in Ten” campaign calls for the government to build one in ten new homes to guarantee a supply of safe, affordable housing. This initiative is a return to basics: providing social and affordable housing for Australians.

“This is not about providing incentives to private builders, or offering subsidies to first home buyers, – it’s about government stepping up and taking the lead where the private sector can’t, or won’t,” said Martin Kennedy of Home in Place.

Leaving housing to the private sector has been an epic fail

“In the 50s and 60s governments built around 15% of all new homes. In the 70s and 80s they were still building 10% of all new homes. These days, they build almost none,” Mr Kennedy said.

For decades, successive governments have relied on the private sector to provide affordable housing, and the results have been catastrophic.

Developers and investors have profited, while working families have been left behind.

House prices have increased three times faster than wages over the past 25 years, leading to a collapse in homeownership rates, particularly among younger Australians. Even if house prices were frozen today, it would take 30 years for wages to catch up and make houses as affordable as they were in the 1980s.

Falling home ownership rates and surging population growth, have created intense competition in the private rental market. Private rents have surged by 40% in just three years and, according to recent research from the University of New South Wales, 10,000 people a month are becoming homeless.

Australia is in a housing crisis – Government MUST act

The housing crisis has reached the stage where even essential workers like teachers, nurses, firefighters, and police officers are among the hidden homeless.

When even having a full-time job and a decent income is no guarantee of being able to put a roof over your head, it is clear something needs to change.

“When a market can’t provide something essential like housing at a price regular people can afford, then it has failed and it’s time for the government to step in,” Mr. Kennedy said.

Join the call for ‘One in Ten’

It’s time to stop with the complexity and go back to basics. When the governments of the past wanted to make sure low and middle income Australians had access to decent housing, they didn’t rely on the private sector. They understood that they had to get busy building homes and making them available at prices people could afford.

Join the “One in Ten” campaign and urge politicians of all backgrounds to get building. To send this message visit www.homeinplace.org/modern-homelessness.