There is an urgent need to fix Australia’s broken housing system. Tasmania, along with the rest of the country is in the midst of a housing crisis, and all parties have a responsibility to turn this around.
At the 2021 Census, more than 640,000 households reported that their housing needs were not being met by the private rental market, and over 122,000 people were experiencing homelessness. Australia needs one million additional homes that are affordable to lower-income households by 2041.
Shelter Tas supports the policies of our national housing and homelessness peaks, and our key asks for the 2025 Federal Election reflect the election priorities of National Shelter, the Community Housing Industry Association (CHIA) and Homelessness Australia, as well as the Everybody’s Home and Home Time campaigns.
Shelter Tas’ five key election priorities are:
1. Reverse the housing crisis with a 10% social and affordable housing target
We support the call for one in ten houses to be social and affordable within 20 years – 1 in 10 in 20 – so that every person in Australia has a safe place to call home. Increasing investment in the Housing Australia Future Fund (HAFF) from the current rate of $500 million per year to $2 billion per year by the federal government will help achieve this goal. This will deliver billions of dollars in social and economic benefits for Australians and reverse the housing crisis.
2. Increase funding for homelessness services
Due to the growing demand for homelessness assistance, services are overwhelmed in their efforts to help people in need of crisis accommodation and support. In Tasmania, 37 requests for support go unassisted each day. These essential services require more resources to do their jobs effectively. We call on the federal government to provide an extra $670 million in funding per year for homelessness services across the nation. This investment will expand service capacity so that no one is turned away.
3. Provide a better deal for renters
One in four Tasmanian households are renting, and they need better protections and housing standards. These three measures need to be implemented to address housing affordability, poor energy performance, and help to provide access to better quality homes:
4. Meet the housing needs of women, children and young people
We need to ensure adequate social and affordable housing and support for women and children, who bear the brunt of the housing crisis. Tasmania had over 6 times the national rate of women being turned away from crisis accommodation in 2021-22.
The largest cohort of all homeless Tasmanians (at 25%) are aged between 12-24 years, with an additional 14% being children under 12. More targeted funding is needed to provide appropriate housing and support for young people at risk of homelessness, and young renters.
5. Deliver a National Housing and Homelessness Plan
Shelter Tas supports the urgent call from our national peaks for a coordinated and legislated Australia-wide housing and homelessness strategy, as well as a package of tax reforms and the development of a National Framework for Mandatory Inclusionary Zoning that will help to improve affordability, reduce inequality, and ease the housing and homelessness crisis.
To find out more about the election priorities of National Shelter, CHIA, Homelessness Australia, plus the Everybody’s Home and Home Time campaigns – read the summaries below.
National Shelter has released its 2025 Policy Platform Priorities, ahead of the upcoming Federal election. As a member of the Shelter Network, Shelter Tas supports this call to action to the Australian Government to fix the housing crisis. The National Shelter election platform recognises the scale and complexity of the problems that need to be solved, and is centred around five key asks: |
1. Deliver a legislated National Housing and Homelessness Plan that contains targets, dedicated funding, commitments to investments and a clear plan for delivery and public reporting.
2. Increase annual investment in the delivery of a long-term, social and affordable housing supply pipeline to $2 billion per year, through the Housing Australia Future Fund (HAFF), or an alternative funding mechanism, leveraging State and private investment.
3. Implement national minimum standards to guarantee fair and affordable rental protections, quality homes and a better deal for renters.
4. Implement a package of tax reforms to ease the housing crisis, improve affordability for people on low and moderate incomes, and reduce inequality.
5. Lead development of a National Framework for Inclusionary Zoning to generate a recurrent, sustainable supply of social and affordable housing in new developments
Click here to read National Shelter’s 2025 Policy Platform in full.
National Shelter is well-positioned to work with Government and other stakeholders to shape a fair, sustainable and healthy housing system for all Australians. They acknowledge the housing policies, commitment and investment from the Australian Government in recent years, but the national housing policy agenda needs to be much more ambitious and reflect a greater commitment to action that will address the homelessness and affordability crisis and fix Australia’s broken housing system.
You can find out more about National Shelter and their work at www.shelter.org.au.
CHIA has unveiled its comprehensive election platform, “Changing Housing for Good,” calling on all political parties to commit to addressing Australia’s escalating housing crisis through significant expansion of social and affordable housing.
The election charter calls for four key commitments:
1. Legislate a comprehensive National Housing and Homelessness Plan – A 10-year, evidence-based plan enshrined in legislation to ensure enduring national leadership beyond electoral cycles.
2. Adopt a “1 in 10 in 20” target – Aim for one in ten homes to be social and affordable within 20 years, up from less than 4% currently.
3. Ensure climate resilience in social housing – Address poor energy performance in social housing to reduce emissions and tenant energy
costs.
4. Invest in community housing sector capacity – Overhaul the National Regulatory System and expand support for not-for-profit housing
providers.
Fewer than four per cent of Australian homes are social or affordable. To fix our broken housing system it needs to be more like one-in-ten.
Economic analysis from Swinburne University of Technology demonstrates that quadrupling the Housing Australia Future Fund (HAFF) from 30,000 to 120,000 homes would deliver $12.79 billion in social and economic benefits over 25 years.
“This research explodes the myth that social and affordable housing is purely an expense,” CHIA CEO Wendy Hayhurst said. “In fact, it provides taxpayers with a powerful economic return while also building a more inclusive and healthy society.
Analysis of 2021 Census data revealed more than 640,000 Australian households’ housing needs were not met by the private rental market, with the figure projected to reach almost one million by 2040.
CHIA is asking for a commitment that puts a significant dent in the current rate of housing stress and homelessness. Australia needs one in 10 homes for social and affordable housing, and quadrupling the Housing Australia Future Fund. A different future for Australian housing is achievable with the right action.
They are calling for the Federal government to increase investment in social and affordable rental housing supply to $2 billion per year (up from $500 million) and lead the development of a National Framework for Mandatory Inclusionary Zoning to ensure affordable rental housing in new developments.
You can find out more about CHIA and their work at www.communityhousing.com.au
Australia’s broader housing crisis has created a national homelessness emergency that demands urgent action – but a focus on prevention, early action, rapid rehousing and upscaling proven models for groups at high risk of homelessness would deliver significant returns.
Homelessness Australia is calling for the following actions as a first-order priority at the 2025 election:
Help when it’s needed
Prevention: a basic safety net
Targeted early action: catch people before they fall into homelessness
Effective responses to support quick exits from homelessness
Provide strong foundations for Australia’s homelessness response
Homelessness Australia is the national peak body for homelessness, providing systemic advocacy for the sector, and working with a large network of organisations to provide a unified voice on responding to and preventing homelessness. Click here to read Homelessness Australia’s 2025 Election Platform in full, or go to www.homelessnessaustralia.org.au to find out more about their work.
For children and young people without parental support and a place to live, Australia’s housing and cost-of-living crises are life-and-death. They face danger and serious harm each night they are homeless, leading to a high likelihood of a lifetime of poverty and disadvantage.
Housing is a broken system, but with smart action, Australia can significantly reduce child and youth homelessness.
Home Time is a national campaign to unlock Australia’s housing system for almost 40,000 children and young people with nowhere to live. Their Federal Election Platform sets out a targeted approach to investment and reform that would dramatically reduce the number of 16-24 year-old young people who are alone without a safe place to live across Australia.
The Federal Election, Home Time is calling for the following:
Strong and targeted interventions during a young person’s experience of homelessness can change the course of their life, with positive safety, health, education, employment and social outcomes.
The benefits for each young person are huge, but the social and economic benefits for our community and government itself are even greater. It is time to fix our broken housing system. Fore more information, go to www.hometime.org.au.
Everybody’s Home is the national campaign dedicated to fixing Australia’s housing crisis. It’s called for a drastic rethink of how Australia tackles housing.
They have released the Roadmap to Reform, for the Federal Election, with four key elements:
1. Raising the rate of JobSeeker and income payments
2. Coordinating nationally consistent protections for renters
Limiting rent increases, requiring longer tenancy agreements, and introducing minimum living standards
3. Phasing in tax reform
Reducing the capital gains tax discount for investors over the next decade and phasing out negative gearing handouts
4. Implementing a broad-based social housing program
Expanding social housing each year, working up to a social housing target of 940,000 new homes within the next two decades, with the help of revenue savings from tax reform
You can find out more about Everybody’s Home and their work at https://everybodyshome.com.au/