This article is from the Australian Property Journal archive
THE Western Australian government has been urged to set up an affordable rental housing scheme worth up to $2 billion, with thousands of affordable homes expected to be lost to the private market by the end of 2026.
Shelter WA is warning more renters are at risk of homelessness when most of the 3,385 affordable rentals exit the federal government’s discontinued National Rental Affordability Scheme (NRAS). The state is already grappling with a surge in people being assisted by homelessness services.
Shelter WA suggested that the WA government replicate the Queensland model of purchasing the remaining NRAS properties for community housing organisations to continue managing as affordable rental housing, which it estimates would cost $1.7 billion.
Another option Shelter WA proposed is for the government to establish its own affordable rental fund to increase the supply of affordable rental homes in the state by as many as 20,000 over 10 years, through a direct subsidy. This is costed around $47.6 million per year for 5,000 affordable rental homes through to $196 million per year for 20,000 affordable rental dwellings over 10 years.
“Right now, Western Australia has an estimated shortfall of nearly 54,000 social and affordable homes – any loss of guaranteed, affordable rentals is a major blow that may exacerbate the housing and homelessness crisis,” said Shelter WA chief executive Kath Snell.
“Affordable rentals are the missing middle in WA’s housing landscape and the critical link between social housing and the private rental market. But there is a desperate lack of supply.
“This is why we’re also calling for the creation of a long-term affordable rental supply investment fund.”
Snell said the fund would operate in a similar way to the WA government’s Social Housing Investment Fund, but would be targeted towards increasing the supply of affordable rental housing. It could also operate similarly to the Commonwealth’s NRAS scheme, with Shelter WA’s research suggesting a subsidy of around $8,500 per dwelling per year for ten years would be sufficient to incentivise participants in a new scheme.
She said there “virtually no affordable rental properties available for Western Australians on lower and even medium incomes”, adding further demand for social housing and upward pressure on the state’s social housing waitlist.
“We also have essential workers, including aged and childcare workers, who don’t qualify for social housing but are plunging deeper into housing stress because there’s no affordable homes to rent.”
In 2021 about 5,000 NRAS properties were remaining in the scheme in WA. Between 2021 to the end of 2023, more than 1,500 NRAS properties exited the scheme.
Crawley and Nedlands will be hit hardest by the loss of the remaining properties, with 242 and 235 homes exiting the NRAS respectively, followed by Perth (178), Bentley (137) and Gosnells (130).
Coodanup, Ashby, Ellenbrook and Leederville each have around 100 homes set to be lost, and Cannington and Mandurah both have 84.
The Western Australian government has been delivering a $2.6 billion social housing program that has just delivered its 2,000th home, with an ultimate target of 4,000 new social homes, plus thousands more being maintained and upgraded.
