The newly-installed president of Vinnies NSW, Denis Walsh, has thrown his support behind the charity’s plan to put in place a $10 billion social and affordable housing fund to address chronic homelessness in Australia.
A report issued last week contains six key recommendations to address chronic homelessness which affects more than 100,000 Australians.
The Ache for Home report recommends:
– The establishment of a $10 billion Social and Affordable Housing Fund.
– The preparation of a National Housing Plan.
– The recognition of the human right to housing.
– The setting of new targets to halve homelessness and halve the housing shortfall by 2025.
– The Commonwealth Rent Assistance to be increased and indexed properly.
– Changes to negative gearing and capital gains tax to favour building new affordable housing.
Mr Walsh said housing is a “core human right”.
“Without secure housing, people are severely restricted in their social and economic participation.”
Vinnies members and volunteers “see the human face of poverty and homelessness”, he said.
Mr Walsh called on Premier Mike Baird to support the charity’s call for clear targets for the construction of affordable housing.
Acting CEO Dianne Lucas said: “Vinnies believes we must start to reverse the significant undersupply of social and affordable housing.
“There are close to 60,000 applicants still on the social housing waiting list with waiting times ranging from four to over 10 years. The Commonwealth and NSW Governments must work together to urgently address this crisis.”