Renee Lees, who is standing for Socialist Alliance in the Queensland Senate, said neither major party has put forward real solutions to the housing unaffordability crisis.
鈥淲e stand for a national housing guarantee, through a large-scale building program of public housing,鈥 she said on May 19.
鈥淓verybody deserves a guaranteed safe and stable home. We should not aim any lower.鈥
鈥淩ents have gone up much faster than incomes over last year and fastest of all for low income households and those in regional areas 鈥 where rents rose 12.1%鈥, Lees said.
鈥淭here is massive shortfall 鈥 101,800 dwellings 鈥 of social housing dwellings in Queensland. Federal funding for First Nations peoples鈥 housing, and in remote regions, has been declining since the 2011-2012 budget.
According to data provided by , a national campaign to fix the housing crisis, the current budget projected zero dollars over 2024鈥2025 for housing.
鈥淲hile the upfront cost to provide housing is significant 鈥 $35 billion between now and 2035 according to The Australia Institute 鈥 remember the Coalition government just wasted $40 billion in JobKeeper giveaways to corporations that increased their profit margins during COVID-19,鈥 Lees said.
鈥淢eanwhile, Finland has embarked on ambitious expansion of public housing. It has experienced a net savings, the result of a huge boost in overall well-being.鈥