Fed: Shortfall in public housing worsens, report finds

AAP General News (Australia)
08-13-2008
Fed: Shortfall in public housing worsens, report finds

Eds: Embargoed until 0100 AEST Wednesday, Aug 13



By Cathy Alexander

CANBERRA, Aug 13 AAP - House prices and rents are sky high, and there's more bad news
for those struggling to find a place to live with the supply of public housing is plunging.

Public housing stock has fallen by 25,000 dwellings since the mid-1990s.

That's cold comfort for the 176,000 households who are on the waiting list.

A housing snapshot released by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare today
shows fewer people are finding places in public housing than two years ago.

The issue needs attention, the institute's housing data analysis unit head David Wilson says.

"The number of public houses is going down in total," Mr Wilson told AAP.

"It certainly has been an issue for several years."

The snapshot shows public housing is increasingly being allocated to the homeless and
to people in crisis, such as single mothers escaping domestic violence.

Mr Wilson said this made it harder for other low-income households to find a place.

"There's been a steady growth in the allocations to homeless people ... they may well
be squeezing out other people," he said.

Mr Wilson said declining government spending was behind the decrease in public housing stock.

State and territory governments are in charge of delivering public housing, while the
federal government pays for some of it.

"Over several years the amount spent on public housing has ... actually been falling
in real terms," Mr Wilson said.

He said there was a push to increase the spending as part of a new housing deal being
worked out between the federal and state governments.

The number of public housing dwellings has fallen from 365,000 to 340,000 since 1995.

According to the snapshot, 28,300 households found public housing in 2006-07, down
from 29,300 in 2004-05.

But the snapshot contained some good news.

More homeless people are being accommodated in public housing - 4,500 in 2006-07.

And once tenants find a public housing place, they are staying on. More than three-quarters
of tenants have lived in their property for more than two years.

Public housing is dominated by single people and single mothers, the snapshot found.

The average weekly income of households in public housing is $332, compared with $1,027
for the general population.

AAP ca/mfh/jl/bwl

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