More for the homeless and less for investors
A peak advocacy group has called on the Government to curb tax breaks for investors and concentrate on increasing the number of social housing complexes nationally.
ALMOST one in two people waiting for public housing is at risk of being homeless.
And a new report has shown that the Australian Government is spending more on tax incentives for property investors than on social housing or homelessness services.
The Productivity Commission’s Report on Government Services, released this week, shows that 41 per cent of people chasing public housing are homeless or at risk of homelessness.
That’s a significant jump, rising from 26 per cent in 2015.
Analysis by the Australian Council of Social Service (ACOSS) has found the Federal Government is apportioning billions to tax breaks for property investors.
The Government spent $12.3 billion more on housing investor tax incentives in 2025 than on social housing, homelessness services and rent assistance combined, which received $9.6 billion.
Social housing now makes up less than two per cent of dwellings built annually, down from 22 per cent in the 1950s and 15 per cent in the 1970s.
Only 3.6 per cent of all existing dwellings is social housing, down from nearly 5.7 per cent in the 1980s, with 41 per cent of the public housing waitlist made up of households that are homeless or at risk of homelessness, up from 26 per cent in 2015.
Around 190,000 households are on the public housing waitlist, increasing from 169,000 in 2024 and 141,000 in 2018.
Some 18.3 per cent of Commonwealth Rent Assistance households are in severe rental stress, paying more than 50 per cent of their income on rent. This is up from 8.1 per cent in 2004.
And 27.4 per cent of people using homelessness services are experiencing persistent homelessness of more than seven months in a two-year period, up from 22 per cent in 2019.
ACOSS has called on the Federal Government to gradually halve the 50 per cent Capital Gains Tax discount and phase out negative gearing over five years.
It also calls for national social housing targets to increase to at least six per cent of homes over a decade, requiring 36,000 more dwellings annually on average), and 10 per cent of homes over two decades, requiring 55,000 more dwellings annually on average.
“This report shows housing stress and homelessness are getting worse while absurdly generous tax breaks drive up home prices and supercharge inequality in our society,” said ACOSS acting CEO Jacqueline Phillips.
“More people are struggling to afford the private rental market, pushing them into homelessness and onto growing social housing waitlists.
“With new social housing accounting for less than two per cent of homes built each year, the situation is set to worsen, not improve.
“Property investor tax breaks come at a staggering cost of more than $12 billion each year, which could be spent on social housing, social services and supports that benefit everyone.”
