SOCIAL housing funding will be boosted by half a billion dollars and build-to-rent leases extended to five years after Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Greens Leader Adam Bandt struck a deal that allowed the government to pass a raft of bills on Parliament’s hectic final sitting day of 2024.
Some 27 bills were able to be passed following the agreement, giving the government some achievements to showcase heading towards next year’s election.
The deal between Labor and the Greens saw the government able to pass bills its Future Made in Australia legislation, Reserve Bank reforms, build-to-rent developer tax concessions, changes to superannuation, and the controversial ban on children aged under 16 using social media.
The Greens secured an additional $500 million in funding for the Social Housing Energy Performance Initiative to lower power prices for tenants, which it says will save tenants $1,800 per year on bills.
Money will be proportionally distributed to the states without requirement of co-contributions from the states, meaning an additional 50,000 social homes will be retrofitted with energy efficient upgrades such as air conditioning, insulation and shading, electric hot water water systems, cooktops and ovens, and solar panels and batteries.
Current federal funding for the program is $300 million.
The deal will take the total number social homes to be retrofitted to 110,000, a quarter of the 446,000 social homes in Australia. If states choose to contribute matching funding the program could expand to up to $1 billion.
“The Greens have more than doubled federal funding for a government program that will see life improving upgrades to a quarter of all public and community homes across Australia, saving social housing tenants approximately $1,800 a year on their power bills,” said Greens spokesperson for Housing and Homelessness Max Chandler-Mather MP, adding the bill would provide upgrades for “hundreds of thousands of people living in social housing who are often forced to suffer through brutal summers and winters in homes in desperate need of basic repairs”.
The program was initially the product of previous negotiations with the government.
Negotiations with the Albanese government last year over the Housing Australia Future Fund social and affordable housing initiative led to the creation of the $2 billion Social Housing Accelerator program, which saw funds immediately released to the states for the delivery of an additional 4,000 homes.
Yesterday, the Greens also negotiated to extend the lease period from three years to five years on build-to-rent leases, “meaning every lease under this scheme will have long term lease security”, it said. The build-to-rent legislation offers tax concessions to developers in the fledgling sector, in the hope of encouraging more supply amid a national housing crisis.
The negotiations also saw the Albanese government ensure the Future Made in Australia initiative would be closed off from coal, oil and gas projects, while existing powers will be retained for governments to overrule the Reserve Bank and for the central bank to be able to direct commercial banks where to direct credit.
“The Greens are using our power in Parliament to fight for renters and mortgage holders. I’m relieved to see the Treasurer agreed to retain the power to cut interest rates. The Greens are fighting for mortgage holders and the government should do the same,” Greens spokesperson for Treasury, Senator Nick McKim said.
“Labor and the Liberals are still on a unity ticket about unlimited rent increases, new coal and gas approvals and letting the supermarkets price gouge.”
The Greens had been recently pushing for freezing and capping rents, “ending tax handouts for property investors that stop renters buying their first home”, and establishing a government-owned property developer that it says would build 610,000 homes to be sold at just above the cost of construction, with rents capped at 25% of income.
