NAHA is an agreement between the governments of the Commonwealth, state and territory of Australia, which is committed to achieving the following results: this expanded coverage is generally welcome, but it does not meet the requirements of a national housing strategy. This means that many national policies that have a significant impact on housing demand and costs – such as housing investment taxes, immigration levels and income assistance for tenants – remain out of the influence of the agreement. Such a policy also has a strong influence on the prospects for reducing housing stress. A third feature is the requirement for states and territories to publish housing strategies each year. Stakeholders will be able to assess and compare the merits of these published projects. These will follow a new round of high-level bilateral agreements negotiated between each state and territory and the Commonwealth. Another political housing agreement between the Commonwealth and the state and territory governments came into force this month. The National Housing and Homelessness Agreement is the latest in a 73-year series of such intergovernmental pacts to ensure affordable housing for citizens and to fund services for the homeless. NAHA is an agreement of the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) that began on January 1, 2009 and launched a government approach to address the issue of affordable housing.
Compared to the most recent previous agreements, three things are emerging as new or reissued. Read also: Australia needs to boost funding for affordable housing, not abolish it. At a time of population growth and persistent housing shortages, the Commonwealth`s recent budget promise to maintain its current AUD 1.3 billion contribution to the housing agreement means that there has been no increase in real funding. It is not enough to cover, let alone increase, the costs of current services. In the first five years, NAHA provides $6.2 billion in housing assistance for low- and middle-income Australians. This agreement replaces the 2003 Commonwealth State Housing Agreement. First, the political breadth. Unlike its predecessors, the new agreement aims to improve access to housing “on the whole range of housing.” This applies to the entire range of residential real estate, from the construction of homes in crisis to the home. Within this spectrum, the Commonwealth has set several immediate priorities: the National Housing and Homelessness Agreement (NHHA) began on July 1, 2018 and allocates about $1.5 billion a year to states and territories to improve Australians` access to safe and affordable housing across the housing spectrum.
Although the new agreement has positive directions, the need for funding remains a problem. Although funding is not increased, the Commonwealth hopes that states and territories will increase their resources. There is, therefore, a gap between the high goal of improving access to affordable, safe and sustainable housing and the funding it can support. Until this funding gap is filled, all new national housing and homelessness agreements will remain essentially different in its name. Recent comments from Treasurer Scott Morrison and Assistant Treasurer Michael Sukkar indicate that they believe the National Affordable Housing Agreement (NAHA) has not met its targets for increasing the number of social housing units. The new agreement is essential to improve service delivery and enable COAG to implement economic and social reforms to support future growth, prosperity and social cohesion. The second and arguably the largest set of amendments is accountability. These include an expanded list of performance criteria, the Commonwealth, which adopts a standardized approach to data measurements, and a formal independent review of the agreement by the Productivity Commission, which will be implemented within four years.
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