ACOSS Media Release
New data shows Australia’s housing and homelessness crisis is worsening, prompting calls to curb property investor tax breaks and build more social homes.
The Productivity Commission’s Report on Government Services released today shows that 41% of people waiting to get into public housing are homeless or at risk of homelessness – up from 26% in 2015.
Meanwhile, analysis by ACOSS finds the Federal Government is spending more on tax breaks for property investors than on social housing, homelessness services and rent assistance combined.
ACOSS calls on the Federal Government to gradually halve the 50% Capital Gains Tax discount and phase out negative gearing over five years. It also should set national social housing targets and substantially boost social housing supply to meet these targets.
“This report today shows housing stress and homelessness are getting worse while absurdly generous tax breaks drive up home prices and supercharge inequality in our society,” said ACOSS Acting CEO, Jacqueline Phillips.
“More people are struggling to afford the private rental market, pushing them into homelessness and onto growing social housing waitlists. With new social housing accounting for less than two per cent of homes built each year, the situation is set to worsen, not improve.
“Property investor tax breaks come at a staggering cost of more than $12 billion each year, which could be spent on social housing, social services and supports that benefit everyone.”
Read the ACOSS briefing note: Boost social housing & curb property investor tax breaks
New ROGS data shows:
- Social housing makes up only 3.6% of all dwellings, down from nearly 5.7% in the 1980s
- 41% of the public housing waitlist is made up of households that are homeless or at risk of homelessness, up from 26% in 2015.
- Around 190,000 households are on the public housing waitlist, up from around 169,000 in 2024 and around 141,000 in 2018
- 18.3% of Commonwealth Rent Assistance households are in severe rental stress (paying more than 50% of income on rent), up from 8.1% in 2004.
- 27.4% of people using homelessness services are experiencing persistent homelessness (experiencing homelessness for more than 7 months in a 2 year period), up from 22% in 2019.
Separate ACOSS analysis shows:
- Social housing now makes up less than 2% of dwellings built annually (down from 22% in the 1950s and 15% in the 1970s)
- Federal Government spends more on housing investor tax breaks ($12.3bn in 2025) than on social housing, homelessness services and rent assistance combined ($9.6bn in 2025)
Keep Independent Journalism Alive – Support The AIMN
Dear Reader,
Since 2013, The Australian Independent Media Network has been a fearless voice for truth, giving public interest journalists a platform to hold power to account. From expert analysis on national and global events to uncovering issues that matter to you, we’re here because of your support.
Running an independent site isn’t cheap, and rising costs mean we need you now more than ever. Your donation – big or small – keeps our servers humming, our writers digging, and our stories free for all.
Join our community of truth-seekers. Donate via PayPal or credit card via the button below, or bank transfer [BSB: 062500; A/c no: 10495969] and help us keep shining a light.
With gratitude, The AIMN Team
We have suspected for some time that the availability of Negative Gearing offsets and Capital Gains Tax concessions work to the benefit of investors and wealth accumulation rather than for homebuyers.
We are now told that Australia spends billions of dollars more on these tax breaks for property investors than on social housing, homelessness and rent assistance combined, according to research by the Australian Council of Social Service (Acoss).
It is not the Mum & Dad retirees who are the problem as they can rarely negatively gear the losses on their rental property as they have no other income to offset against. Similarly, these retirees are not the ones benefitting from capital gains tax concessions as they generally hold on to their rental nest-egg.
We need a rethink on these tax give aways which are not increasing the national housing stock but merely churning existing homes and pushing market values out of the reach of those who want to buy a home to live in.
Really?
A blind Freddie knows that, and has done so for the past 30 years, since 1990’s so there no excuses there at all from the Government or the public in general who continue with this schadenfreude.
It’s way past time for the Real Estate Industry to be subjected to a Royal Commission, but that won’t fly as there are too many noses in the trough.
As a lawyer suggested to me, that’s 50% of the economy.
Why should we expect anything else?We are now in the death throes of the failed neoliberal experiment,and governments across the globe,egged on by those who benefit from this travesty,walk around as if stunned..despite their disingenuous reassurances.
Won’t be long now.
You can’t make this stuff up….rather than relieving the stress, just add to it! Property developers & Real Estate agents?
https://www.theage.com.au/politics/victoria/seven-new-towers-set-for-demolition-are-home-to-melbourne-s-vulnerable-and-elderly-20260128-p5nxnz.html
heather,
Another sleazy act by a state gubmint (doesn’t matter which party, they’re as bad as each other) more than eager to bend over for laundered donations.
Sadly, the residential housing market is likely to get a lot worse rather than better, even with the proposals from ACOSS to halve CGT and cut off Negative Gearing (NG) in five years.
By then most of Australia will have been sold off to foreign investors who bring foreign capital say, $100 MILLION and are gifted a further $30 MILLION via the Foreign Exchange Rate (300126). So with $130 MILLION to invest, that could be 65 prime harbour frontage residential properties returning say $4,000 per week or $200,000 per year per property, say $13 MILLION per year, or a nice ten percent (10%) annual return in an Australian money market at 5% pa.
Now the maths get a little tricky because those profits can be exported overseas with minimal/no Australian taxation paid. So which foreign banks are promoting international investment in Australian residential housing??
But it is not as though new houses are not being built. The greenbelt around our cities is invaded by hundreds of new charcoal-roofed houses, with nary a tree to be seen. In my town, more than 2000 new houses have been built in the last five years, with resultant strains on our roads, schools, town parking areas, drainage systems and general infrastructure. The open green space and productive farmland (dairies) is almost gone.
These houses are not cheap, though the land sizes are often small, and eaves almost touch. You can easily pay more than a million dollars for one of these places, inconveniently located too far to walk from town.
Why are people buying these homes? Nice and new, of course, with the most modern kitchens and bathrooms. But still just ordinary cottages. If they are being bought by investors, the rent will have to be too high for average income earners, or if to be occupied by a family, the mortgage will be a nightmare for many years yet.
Big issue fewer social/public housing units, tax perks for investors and price increase or supply/demand issues are glibly blamed on immigrants &/or population growth.
On the latter false, because most ‘immigrants’ are temporary resident students who cannot buy.
However, ageing & increasing longevity of later silent gens and ‘boomer bomb’ (top end hits 80 years this year) have been holding houses longer &/or remain in housing market longer; probably a factor on supply and demand, but ignored/avoided?
@ Andrew Smith: The ”boomers” had the advantage of Howard’s residential real estate tax concessions and the lower prices before Mr & Ms General-Public realised that residential real estate investments were the only way that they could afford, to benefit in a corrupted tax system. The opportunities were always available to any younger switched-on entrepreneurs willing to do the numbers.
So now we have the “inter-generational coveting” by those younger persons who lived the life of wine women & song with little regard for the future. Personal consumption at every cost.
But immigrants from elsewhere have often lost or given up everything to get to Australia, and do what ever is necessary to be successful by becoming mortgage holders to avaricious bankers. A decade of successive house renovations and resales provides the finance for improved housing that finally becomes owned unencumbered.
Yes, there are many students, but how many choose to stay on in Australia rather than return to their home nations??