‘[A]ffordable housing is that which reduces or eliminates housing stress for low-income and disadvantaged families and individuals to assist them with meeting other essential basic needs on a sustainable basis, while balancing the need for housing to be of a minimum appropriate standard and accessible to employment and services. This definition has been taken from the Commonwealth Council on Federal Financial Relations Affordable Housing Working Group: Issues paper January 2016. Under this definition, affordable rental housing is provided at a subsidised rent to households through access and affordability requirements set by government. The broader issue of the affordability of housing for home owners and renters is not covered under the strategy as it does not relate to the ‘most vulnerable’ and applies to privately owned assets.’ (p.91) We submit that this definition is not adequate to the purpose of state-wide community planning. For example: ‘Reducing’ housing stress or ‘assisting’ people to meet their other basic needs does not guarantee that people will be able to meet their housing costs and other essential needs. Therefore, it does not guarantee affordability. People in receipt of state housing assistance may still experience significant stress in meeting their housing costs and other essential costs. Not everyone experiencing housing stress is receiving state housing assistance. The affordability of private rental properties and home ownership must figure in a housing plan. Most people on low incomes are not living in public housing. Moreover, the high costs of private rental housing and the fact that young people are being ‘shut out’ of property ownership contribute to the shortage of rental housing that is both affordable and available to people on low incomes. We urge that Infrastructure Victoria work with leading community stakeholders including the Victorian Council of Social Service, Council to Homeless Persons and Tenants Union of Victoria to develop a more comprehensive and workable definition of housing affordability. Housing is generally considered to be affordable if the household members are not in financial stress after they have paid for their housing – but there are a range of measures used to determine affordability. One of the most widely used models states that a household in the
‘[A]ffordable housing is that which reduces or eliminates housing stress for low-income and disadvantaged families and individuals to assist them with meeting other essential basic needs on a sustainable basis, while balancing the need for housing to be of a minimum appropriate standard and accessible to employment and services. This definition has been taken from the Commonwealth Council on Federal Financial Relations Affordable Housing Working Group: Issues paper January 2016. Under this definition, affordable rental housing is provided at a subsidised rent to households through access and affordability requirements set by government. The broader issue of the affordability of housing for home owners and renters is not covered under the strategy as it does not relate to the ‘most vulnerable’ and applies to privately owned assets.’ (p.91) We submit that this definition is not adequate to the purpose of state-wide community planning. For example: ‘Reducing’ housing stress or ‘assisting’ people to meet their other basic needs does not guarantee that people will be able to meet their housing costs and other essential needs. Therefore, it does not guarantee affordability. People in receipt of state housing assistance may still experience significant stress in meeting their housing costs and other essential costs. Not everyone experiencing housing stress is receiving state housing assistance. The affordability of private rental properties and home ownership must figure in a housing plan. Most people on low incomes are not living in public housing. Moreover, the high costs of private rental housing and the fact that young people are being ‘shut out’ of property ownership contribute to the shortage of rental housing that is both affordable and available to people on low incomes. We urge that Infrastructure Victoria work with leading community stakeholders including the Victorian Council of Social Service, Council to Homeless Persons and Tenants Union of Victoria to develop a more comprehensive and workable definition of housing affordability. Housing is generally considered to be affordable if the household members are not in financial stress after they have paid for their housing – but there are a range of measures used to determine affordability. One of the most widely used models states that a household in the
SUB_YACVic_submisssion_to_Infrastructure_Victoria_Oct_2016.docx