A new study by public policy consultants SGS Economics and Planning warns that an acute shortage of affordable housing amid decades of under-investment and rising population growth (read immigration) is set to cost taxpayers $25 billion a year if nothing is done:
Social housing – a catch-all phrase covering public housing and other forms of subsidised or lower-cost housing – now makes up just 4 per cent of national housing stock, a record low, and down from 6 per cent in 1996.
It warned if the current trend continues, more than 2 million households that are privately renting will hit the internationally recognised benchmark for housing stress by 2051, under which housing costs soak up at least 30 per cent of a household’s income.
