Page 5416 - Week 13 - Tuesday, 16 November 2010
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operates as a viable sector, not reliant on government funding alone to deliver additional properties. The ACT has a strong legislative regulatory framework, and providers receiving nation building properties will become registered and take allocations from the social housing register.
So what is happening elsewhere in Australia? South Australia has entered into an agreement with the commonwealth that it will transfer up to 75 per cent of stage 2 of nation building and jobs plan stock to preferred growth providers by 2012, and in July 2009, 18 organisations accepted the offer of preferred growth provider status. These properties will not receive any ongoing government subsidy, and the growth providers will be able to retain 100 per cent of the rental income and fund maintenance and operating costs through the rental income received.
Queensland has identified two options for increasing the scale of the not-for-profit sector: firstly, capital grants to non-government organisations and head leasing or title transfer to non-government organisations; and, secondly, transfer of existing social housing currently directly managed by the state to the not-for-profit sector. Combining strategies could accelerate growth.
The not-for-profit sector in Queensland is mainly small organisations with very small numbers of properties. Queensland has over 300 registered providers. Outside the remote communities, only a handful of organisations have more than 200 properties under management. There are very few organisations solely dedicated to the provision of social and affordable housing. While the nation building and jobs plan injection for a small number of organisations will result in rapid growth, it is not without risk, both for the organisation and for social housing in Queensland.
Under the nation building jobs plan, over 4,000 new additional dwellings will be added to Queensland’s social housing stock. Queensland must focus on ensuring the new homes are built in areas of unmet need for social housing, which has resulted in the state maximising the stimulus effort right across the state, particularly in regional areas. Through this process, Queensland has gained the greatest level of involvement of the not-for-profit sector in the development and construction of new dwellings in all jurisdictions across Australia.
The sector is providing a contribution of over $50 million in value to the Queensland program. The sector will own approximately one-third of the properties from the outset, and the balance will initially be owned by the department and head leased to organisations with a view to transferring title in the future. At the affordable housing end, of course, the Brisbane Housing Company is well known as a vehicle of the Queensland government and the Brisbane City Council.
Western Australia is finalising its five-year community housing growth strategy. Western Australia is attracted to the community housing sector’s ability to unlock the equity in its housing assets to attract finance from bank and other investors and its access to a number of other cash flows and tax benefits which support the growth agenda. The Western Australian Treasury Corporation modelling has identified that for every $1 of investment provided by government, the community housing sector can provide $1.20 return by way of making additional social and affordable housing.
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