Housing for the Aged Action Group (HAAG) is appalled at reports that the Turnbull government plans to axe the National Affordable Housing Agreement (NAHA) in the May 2017 budget. This agreement between Federal and State governments provides the only Commonwealth funding for housing and homelessness services.

The 2017 Report on Government Services (ROGS) found that states and territories had not reduced National Homelessness- so the government have reportedly planned to axe the agreement.

Jeff Fiedler, National Project Manager of Housing for the Aged Action Group warns that “Withdrawing federal funding from Public Housing because there are still homeless people is akin to withdrawing funding from Immunisation programs because kids are still getting the measles.”

Jeff continues, “The principles of the NAHA were not dreamt up in 2009 by the Rudd Government as claimed by the Prime Minister. It is the current iteration of a 72 year COAG agreement around the provision and maintenance of Public and Social Housing. It is the only funding mechanism for Public Housing in Australia. The Government cannot just abdicate itself from this responsibility.”

Housing for the Aged Action Group believe that the Commonwealth Government have contributed to the perceived  “failure” of the National Affordable Housing Agreement (NAHA) by reducing funding to the NAHA over time, despite consistent lobbying from community groups that funding was inadequate to meet growing demand for affordable housing.

The Governments proposal to replace the NAHA with an Affordable Housing Finance Corporation (AHFC) - which utilises bonds to finance Community Housing Providers’ (CHPs) new ‘affordable’ properties- is equally as concerning. A report from AHURI on this proposed model states that “…the properties (developed via this model) are unlikely to be available for households who have no income apart from government welfare payments.”

Jeff Fiedler states, “Our Home at Last Service has housed over 500 older people who were homeless or at risk of homelessness, into Public or Social housing. We fear our successful service will have to cease and hundreds of older people will become homeless if the NAHA is cut.”

Current clients of Home at Last are available to provide personal testimonies to the media.

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Housing for the Aged Action Group is a not for profit community group dedicated to improving housing outcomes for older people through service provision and policy development.
www.oldertenants.org.au

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