1. Parramatta Community Forum   WE ALL NEED A HOME   Ensuring secure and affordable housing for all.

2. Parramatta Speaks 2018

3. Ask audience to stand up if they think that the lack of affordable rental housing in WS is a concern to them.. .answer from our survey on next slide

4. Ask audience to stand up if they think that everyone has a right to rental housing that’s affordable and secure.. .answer from our survey on next slide

5. Ask audience to stand up if disagree that landlords should be able to evict tenants without giving a good reason.. .answer from our survey on next slide

6. Ask audience to stand up if they disagree that in Western Sydney it’s easy for people on lower incomes to find affordable rental housing.. .answer from our survey on next slide

7. Ask audience to stand up if they think that new housing developments in WS should include units that people on lower incomes can afford to rent
.. .answer from our survey on next slide

8. Ask audience to stand up if they agree that the state government is doing enough to make housing more affordable (and if you don’t know, put your hands on your head)

9. And in the sheets on your chairs are some of the many stories we heard from people about how this issue affects them and their families

10. Parramatta Community Forum   WE ALL NEED A HOME   Ensuring secure and affordable housing for all.

12. NSW now – basic statistics
Sydney median house price $1-1.2m depending on data
Average income $93,550
Deposit gap, occupancy costs
Rest of state impacted by increased commuter distances, sea- and tree-changers, retirees
In Sydney, housing price growth outstripping wage growth
Rents are high and tenancies unstable

13. NSW now – impacts Delayed purchase amongst younger cohorts
Mismatch between need and supply
Family housing not getting built as part of affordable housing
Older households not downsizing – speculation about an apartment glut
Pressure on private rentals, community housing, social housing – bottleneck; pressure through the system
Impacts on mobility, health, education, employment, environment

14. Terminology
Housing stress = lowest 40% of income levels paying more than 30% of gross household income on rent or mortgage. Blunt, but widely used and understood
Public housing = housing owned and managed by the state; rents set at 25% of household income
Community housing = housing managed by a community housing provider; rents usually set at 30% income or at 25% income + Commonwealth Rent Assistance
Social housing = public housing + community housing. 10+ year wait
Affordable housing = rents set at 75-80% of market rent. Might not actually be “affordable”
Housing affordability = nebulous; housing that is <30%?

15. Welfare Rights Centre and Shelter NSW (2014) The impact of rent assistance on housing affordability for low-income renters: New South Wales.

16. Welfare Rights Centre and Shelter NSW (2014) The impact of rent assistance on housing affordability for low-income renters: New South Wales.

17. This is statewide, so masks the discrepancy between cities, regional centres, and elsewhere.
Shelter NSW factsheet.

18. Parramatta: median house price ~$1.2m
Median unit price ~$645,000
Shelter NSW factsheet.

19. Implications On current trajectories:
Will see persistent delays to buying first home – staying at home longer (if they can)
Ongoing pressure on social and community housing including boarding houses and shelters
Increasing concentration of ownership amongst families that already own
Mismatch between need and supply
Impacts of expensive, crowded, poor quality, and/or unstable housing: families unable to leave violence; tenants too scared to report issues
As well as the social impacts, emergence of economic and environmental inefficiency at city level as workers move further from jobs

20. Key points of debate Supply – market rate housing
“Let the market fix it” – when the market hasn’t fixed it yet?
Argument is that more homes = more affordability
Developers do not bring housing to market with the aim of making a loss
Investors can out-bid owner occupiers, especially first home owners
Much easier to require affordability up front than after or during development – need for targets, set % of affordable housing

21. Key points of debate Supply – affordable housing
Mix of very low, low, and moderate income households
Social and affordable rentals as per the above; also increasingly seeing calls for affordable ownership options such as shared equity
Can be delivered as a set percentage of a private development, managed by CHP
Has to be set before land has been purchased or at time of rezoning
If developer has paid top dollar expecting maximum return, they cannot deliver lower prices

22. Link Housing
CENSW

23. Myth busting Supply will fix it!
…only if it’s social and affordable housing
Otherwise, to correct to an affordable level, supply would have to be so high that the market effectively collapses

24. Key points of debate
Demand – Investors are competing with owner occupiers
Incentivised by federal tax settings – negative gearing, historically low interest rates
Growing expectation that housing will act as superannuation, erosion of old age pension
Responses such as first home owner’s grants often just further inflate the market
Growing scrutiny of lenders whose investment housing lending is growing too quickly – having some impact

25. Myth busting Chinese investors are driving prices up! …no, they’re not
Recent research shows overseas investors made up about 2 per cent of all real estate transactions. It’s local investors

26. Possible policy responses
Federal
Addressing negative gearing – big, politically scary, needs cross-party commitment across electoral cycles to grandfather current system
Increase funding to States and Territories to support social and community housing
Reinstate National Rental Affordability Scheme (NRAS)
Reinstate matched deposit saving scheme?
Extend first home owner’s grants?
Target the last two to affordable stock?

27. Possible policy responses
State
Mandate percentages of social housing and affordable home ownership (resale restricted) via inclusionary zoning
Allow local government to set affordable housing requirements
Utilise State assets for affordable housing, set requirements in any development on State land
Stamp duty concessions?
Match NRAS contribution
FHOG contribution, extend FHOG to shared equity schemes

28. Possible policy responses
Local
Are currently unable to set AH requirements
Lack of State direction makes it difficult – case by case negotiations are slow and inefficient
Can push for Voluntary Planning Agreements, offer concessions such as increased density in return for dedication of affordable housing units
Some innovate and provide AH through land and/or airspace contributions

30. Parramatta Community Forum   WE ALL NEED A HOME   Ensuring secure and affordable housing for all.