The Albanese Government hopes that the amendments made to its $10 billion Housing Australia Future Fund will be enough to gain support from the Greens as the party hopes to push the bill through the Senate.
Approximately $500 million will be allocated towards social and affordable housing each year, resulting in an additional 30,000 new dwellings in the Fund’s first five years.
The changes have been made in response to a joint letter signed by Greens Housing Spokesperson Max Chandler-Mather and independent Senators David Pocock and Lidia Thorpe and Tasmanian senators Jacqui Lambie and Tammy Tyrrell calling for changes to be made.
The Greens remain in opposition to the bill, indicating that a two-year rent freeze and $2.5 billion a year on housing is what is required for them to come to the table. Labor’s response was to alter the policy to ensure a minimum of half a billion on housing spending, with the potential for the minimum to be increased, but have ruled out a rent freeze entirely.
Other alterations include moving a housing fund review to the end of 2026 and $200 million to go towards repairs and maintenance on Indigenous dwellings.
Max Chandler-Mather says the Labor Party continues to ignore the demands issued by the Greens.
“The Greens want to negotiate, but Labor is refusing to shift on the two key demands we’ve made clear for the last eight months, more guaranteed money for public housing and a nationally coordinated freeze on rent increases,” he says in an article published by the Sydney Morning Herald.
“The Greens have shifted substantially, we’ve said to the government that we’ll pass their bill in the coming sitting fortnight if they guarantee $2.5 billion right now in social and affordable housing, and commit $1 billion to incentivise states to freeze rent increases at National Cabinet.
“Right now this country is on the precipice of a major social crisis. It is completely unacceptable that the Labor government is not taking up this opportunity to take real steps to tackle the housing crisis.”
