The Sydney
Chamber of Commerce yesterday called for a government inquiry into housing
affordability, and for cuts to stamp duty, saying all indications showed the
problem would be long term.
Affordable
housing advocates National Shelter echoed the chamber’s concerns and called on
all levels of government to make it easier for low-income workers to get homes.
The head of
the Sydney Chamber of Commerce, Patricia Forsythe, said the number of houses
built in NSW dropped in the past year to 29,150, down from 48,065 in 2002-03,
while Sydney’s
population continued to grow steadily.
The
residential vacancy rate hit a record low of 1.2 per cent in March, driving
rents up, she said.
“In
the inner ring of Sydney
suburbs it’s at virtually zero. I think it’s time for a government inquiry into
housing affordability in the Sydney
basin. The statistics are not suggesting that there will be any short-term
shift.”
Forcing
low-income earners such as cleaners, shop assistants and hospitality workers to
live further from the CBD would make Sydney
a less attractive place for foreign investment, Ms Forsythe said.
“Businesses
making the choice between expanding in Sydney or
elsewhere will be less likely to choose Sydney,”
she said, calling for a cut in stamp duty.
National
Shelter yesterday called for the creation of a senior federal minister for
housing, urban and regional development and a national housing strategy aimed
at reducing the level of housing stress over five years.
Housing
stress, defined as having to pay more than 30 per cent of the household income
in housing costs, affects 1.2 million Australian households, they said, up 20
per cent from 10 years ago.
National
Shelter’s spokesman, Adrian Pisarski, said the Government should introduce a
national affordable rental incentive to give subsidies to super funds that
invest in affordable housing.
A national
indigenous housing strategy was also necessary to alleviate health, social and
education problems affecting Aboriginal people.
The federal
Minister for Community Services and Indigenous Affairs, Mal Brough, said the
Government already had an indigenous housing strategy but that in many
communities land tenure arrangements stymied home ownership. He blamed state
governments for the lack of public housing stock.
The NSW
Housing Minister, Matt Brown, said the State Government was spending more money
on increasing community housing than any other state. He said that interest
rates had risen eight times in a row under the Howard Government. “This
has left working families of NSW struggling to pay their mortgages and put the
housing market in crisis mode.”