Minister Collins interview on ABC Afternoon Briefing

E&OE

TOPICS: Census homelessness figures; the Albanese Government’s ambitious housing agenda; $10 billion Housing Australia Future Fund.  

GREG JENNETT, HOST: Well, everyone knows the cost of housing right now is extreme no matter where you live and on top of that, we have a big data set out today to show exactly how severe the crisis is, or perhaps was. So, on Census night in August of 2021, just over 122,000 Australians were homeless. So, the question really is, are things worse or better since the pandemic has passed? We’re joined in the studio by Housing Minister Julie Collins. Welcome back, Minister. 

JULIE COLLINS, MINISTER FOR HOUSING AND MINISTER FOR HOMELESSNESS: Good afternoon.

JENNETT: To that question. Is there any suggestion or anything that you see or sense that suggests homelessness is improved or even deteriorating since that data?

COLLINS: Well, clearly, it’s difficult to turn around those types of numbers. What we need, Greg, is all tiers of government working together with community housing providers, with the construction sector, with institutional investment, working together to try and turn that around. I don’t think any tier of government is going to solve this alone, but we all need to lift, we all need to do more. And that’s what we’ve started to do already in our first ten months. We immediately unlocked up to $575 million from our National Infrastructure Facility. We already have construction on the ground from some of that funding today. That came out of our Jobs and Skills Summit. In our first budget last year, our Housing Accord, where we got to deal with the states and territories and local Government and the construction sector to build another 10,000 affordable rentals from the Federal Government to be matched by the States and Territories with another 10,000. We, of course, have our legislation in the Parliament, our Housing Australia Future Fund, our Supply and Affordability council, and of course, the creation of Housing Australia. We have been moving as quickly as we can, but we need to make sure that we consult on this legislation. We need to talk to people to make sure we get it right. We think we’ve got it right. What we want to do now, of course, is get it through the Parliament and get on with the job. We’re talking about 30,000 social and affordable homes from that $10 billion fund in the first five years. That $10 billion is the single biggest investment from a Federal Government in social and affordable housing in more than a decade.

JENNETT: Yeah, I will get to the Future Fund because sounds like there’s still some convincing to be done of crossbenchers in the Senate on that. But, just on the Census data on homelessness, they are confronting numbers, and there must be some telltale cohorts there that would have you worried about where this trend is going, perhaps to be confirmed in the next Census. Almost a quarter of people experiencing homelessness in this last Census, twelve to twenty four years old. A 10% increase in women experiencing homelessness. So away from the aggregate number of 122,000, there are actually disturbing new trends, would you agree, and how specifically are they being responded to?

COLLINS: Absolutely, Greg. I think every Australian would be concerned to know that so many young Australians are experiencing homelessness, which is why we made the announcement we did today of the $91.7 million over three years. This is for a specific youth homelessness service funded directly by the Federal Government that is on the ground in communities across Australia. They actually work with young people who are at risk of homelessness, who have disconnected either from their family and or school and try to re-engage them and get them secure, affordable housing. And they provide those wraparound services to keep them in secure housing so that they can have a good start. And that’s really critical. So we took that action today to give certainty to those services that are on the ground to make sure that they can support them.

JENNETT: A bit of a stop gap, though.

COLLINS: What of course we’re doing, obviously, with the Housing Australia Future Fund, of that 30,000 homes that I talked about in the first five years, 4000 of those are specifically for women and children fleeing family violence and for older women at risk of homelessness. Another growing group of people, as you indicated. And of course, we’re working with the States and Territories, working on a new National Housing and Homelessness Plan, and for the first time, an actual National Housing and Homelessness Plan for the country. You’re talking about two, five years, a ten year plan, and of course, how that fits with the Housing Accord and lining all that up, as I said before, because we all need to do more. I think any Australian would be saddened by those figures. But importantly, these are people. They are people who contact me and I’m sure other members of Parliament every day with the most horrific stories. And I think we all have a responsibility to do more.

JENNETT: I’m sure it’s worth reflecting on that on this day when it’s not just the numbers, is it? To the Future Fund, goodness knows what’s going on in the world of investment and finance at the moment, it seems fairly topsy-turvy, but in many ways the performance of this fund depends on what’s going on in investments. So, would you be prepared to legislate a binding number around the 30,000 homes that you aim to construct each year from the earnings of the fund? I think this might be one of the demands coming from the Senate crossbench.

COLLINS: Well, the way that the fund works is that $10 billion is invested and then the returns from the fund are then invested each year in social and affordable housing. And obviously the capital growth-

JENNETT: But if you’re not performing well, you don’t get as many houses.

COLLINS: Well, of course, what we’ve seen from other Future Funds and what the Guardians of the Future funds tell us is that the average return over the last decade has been around 9%. What we’re talking about and what our expectation would be, would be up to half a billion dollars. But of course, as I said, it’s not the only thing we’re doing. It’s on top of all of our other investments. I mean, we at the moment, through the Housing and Homelessness Agreement, provide $1.6 billion every year to States and Territories. Now, States and Territories match that, and we need States and Territories to lift as well. And they are doing a lot of work as well. I mean, this is not one tier of government. This is three tiers of government working together here. And that’s what we need to focus on in terms of lifting that investment in social and affordable housing. The other thing the Housing Australia Future Fund is designed to do, of course, is to get institutional investment. We’ve already seen a couple of superannuation funds invest with what will become Housing Australia to get some homes on the ground. And they’ve indicated a willingness to work with the government so that we have affordable housing and social housing as investment classes into the future. So we can also leverage that investment. Land from local governments, from state governments, from community housing providers, from churches, from a whole range of people have indicated that they are willing to work with us so that we can leverage more investment and get more homes on the ground sooner. The important thing is, Greg, as you’ve indicated with the data from homelessness data today, we need to make sure they’re the right houses in the right places too.

JENNETT: Acknowledge this is not a solo endeavour by the Commonwealth, not by a long shot. But since you mentioned it, I noticed that Industry Super in its submission to the Senate inquiry, which is wrapping up this afternoon with a report, I think, they reckon that you’re probably about $10 billion short in your $10 billion fund. Is there any room to grow the capital?

COLLINS: Well, as I said, we have at every stage invested more. We invested the $575 million from our Jobs and Skills Summit in our first budget, we invested another $350 million, a $10 billion fund that we’re talking about. And of course, we’re now negotiating new Housing and Homelessness Agreement, which is at least $1.6 billion from the Federal Government each and every year, and the States and Territories working together. And under the Accord, we’re talking about another 10,000 affordable homes, as I said, matched by the States and Territories again. Matched again by the States and Territories to make that 20,000 homes. So we are working with other tiers of government. We do all need to work together. No tier of government is going to solve this alone. But as I said, it’s all of our responsibility to get this right.

JENNETT: All right, let’s see what happens in the Senate, if not this week, probably slipping into next, by the looks of it. Julie Collins, great to have you back on the programme.

COLLINS: Thanks, Greg.