Mr Rudd, in planning to ignore the role of the States in housing affordability crisis is threatening to fail to address the problem.
One step is to give money to landlords directly, through tax credits, rather than pretending to pay poor people for work the ALP views as meaningless.
Another involves Superannuation style accounts, Where the money an individual doesn't see in their working life may be minimised later.
Yet Another involves locking renters into absurdly long contracts, so that not even flexibility is an option for a battler.
One wonders, wouldn't it be easier to just have a conservative state government instead?
Monday, July 09, 2007
Rudds Plan to Help Renters: Give Cash Direct to Landlords
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Labor to help tenants
Clinton Porteous and Sam Strutt
PEOPLE in rental accommodation would be given priority help under a federal Labor government, Kevin Rudd pledged yesterday.
The Opposition Leader said renters were being increasingly squeezed as he announced he would host a national housing affordability summit later this month.
Housing is shaping as a major election issue, and the "rental vote" could be crucial in Queensland, which has a higher proportion of renters than any other state.
But Prime Minister John Howard hit back at Mr Rudd's announcement, saying that state governments were largely to blame for high house prices by failing to release enough land.
The Labor options paper released yesterday included a superannuation-style home savings account to help first-home buyers get their deposit.
But it also included options aimed at helping long-term renters, such as:
• Encouraging long-term leases of more than 12 months.
• Guaranteeing loans for not-for-profit housing organisations.
• Tax changes to encourage investment in low-cost rental properties.
Mr Rudd said housing affordability had suffered under the Howard Government and many people were now forced to rent for long periods.
"Australia's housing affordability problems are not confined to home ownership – they are spreading to the rental market too," he said.
"There are many who can't find affordable rental accommodation, or are trapped paying too much, as rents increase in a squeezed rental market."
Mr Rudd said that according to the Census, the average weekly rent had increased from $145 in 2001 to $190 last year.
In Queensland, renters pay an average of $200 a week and the proportion of renters in the state, at 30 per cent, is well above the national average of 27.2 per cent.
Mr Howard said the states should sell off more land to reduce property prices, and local councils should stop loading the cost of infrastructure on to home builders.
"The biggest reason why housing is so expensive for young people now is there is not a large enough supply of land," Mr Howard said.
Mr Rudd said land release strategies and high government infrastructure charges would be examined at his housing summit, along with urban consolidation and skills shortages in the construction industry.
http://blogs.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/piersakerman/index.php/dailytelegraph/comments/nsw_the_terrible_state_of_housing/
Akerman on issue
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