THERE were few surprises on the housing front in Western Australian treasurer Rita Saffioti’s first state budget yesterday following a string of announcements in the lead-up, including of the injection of more than $840 million to social and affordable housing and homelessness initiatives.
Headlining the initiatives in the 2024-25 state budget is an additional $400 million to expand the Social and Affordable Housing Investment Fund (SAHIF) to support the delivery and refurbishment of social housing stock, and provide housing to vulnerable members of the community.
This will bring the total number of new social homes funded in this term of government to almost 5,000, of which more than 2,100 have already been delivered. More than 1,500 homes have also been refurbished.
The Cook government has said expansion of the SAHIF will also help support a pipeline of affordable multi-residential housing across priority sites, including Metronet precincts, by partnering with the federal government through Housing Australia and the community housing sector.
The budget includes up to $50 million in grants for registered community housing providers under a process aimed at boosting regional social and community housing supply.
Homelessness support and case management services will get a $92.2 million boost. Data from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare shows the state has seen a surge in demand for homelessness services.
The REIWA has the state’s vacancy rate at just 0.4%, putting upwards pressure on rents and putting housing further out of reach for some. Perth led the nation in rental growth in the year to April, with a huge 13.6% rise, now sitting at $669 per week, according to CoreLogic.
A further $144 million will be provided to accelerate priority affordable housing projects including Pier Street in Perth, while $179 million in additional funding will be invested to maintain the state’s portfolio of around 45,000 social, key worker and Aboriginal homes.
The state government will also selectively spot-purchase National Rental Affordability Scheme (NRAS) properties to convert to social housing over time. NRAS is a Federal Government initiative implemented and funded from 2008 that is set to end by 2026. ShelterWA recently urged the government to set up an affordable rental housing scheme worth up to $2 billion ahead of potentially thousands of affordable homes being lost to the private market with the wind-up of the NRAS.
ShelterWA has also called on the Cook government to retrofit all of Western Australia’s 42,000 social housing dwellings by 2030, saying the undertaking could wipe $50 million off social housing renters’ energy bills every year by making homes energy efficient.
The government is also putting $5 million towards the Vacant Property Rental Incentive Scheme, which offers $5,000 payments to owners of up to 1,000 vacant residential properties who are willing to provide a minimum 12-month lease agreement to new long-term tenants.
An additional $50.1 million will go to Government Regional Officer Housing (GROH) and a continued freeze on GROH rents for key government workers in regional Western Australia for 2024-25.
In all, $1.1 billion in the budget is going towards affordability, housing and supply.
Stamp duty concessions will benefit about 5,000 first home buyers. Houses worth under $450,00 will not be subject to the tax, and properties valued at up to $600,000 will attract some concessions.
The government is putting $34.8 million towards releasing land for housing development and additional supply in regional areas such as Broome, Kalgoorlie and Karratha.
