One year of failure in housing policy

 Media Release

Shadow Minister for Mental Health 

Queensland Senator Jan McLucas

17 September 2014
One year has passed since the election of the Abbott Government and the housing and homelessness sectors have been left in limbo as a result.
The Abbott Government has savaged affordable housing and homelessness programs in their first 12 months.
This includes cutting $44 million in this financial year alone from the National Partnership Agreement on Homelessness which supports around 180 services and thousands of vulnerable Australians, and providing no certainty beyond June next year.
This government is cruel and unfair; they are leaving our most vulnerable Australians even further behind.
The Abbott Government's track record to date in affordable housing and homelessness policy includes –
• Abolished the highly regarded National Housing Supply Council;
• A $44 million cut to homelessness services (the National Partnership Agreement on Homelessness) in 2014-15 with no funding certainty beyond June 2015;
• Abolished the National Rental Affordability Scheme which boosted the supply of affordable housing for Australians with scope to rescind previously awarded incentives;
• Axed the Housing Help for Seniors program which was to deliver support for pensioners over age pension age who downsize their home;
• Scrapped the First Owners Saver Accounts which helped Australians to save for their first home and enter the housing market;
• Abolished the Prime Minister's Council on Homelessness;
• Disbanded the COAG Select Council on Housing and Homelessness; and
• Withdrawn the Commonwealth's role from the community housing sector's National Regulatory Council.

For more information about the broken promises and lies of the Abbott Government's first year in office, go to www.abbottslies.com.au