The Community Housing Industry Association (CHIA) is disappointed that the 2020 Federal budget contains no plans to kick start the recovery through investing in social housing. “The Master Builders construction forecasts have pointed to a 27% fall in home building, with massive implications for employment in an industry that supplies over 9% of Australia’s jobs” said Wendy Hayhurst, CHIA’s CEO. “While the budget has some measures to support home builders, these are unlikely to be anywhere near sufficient to compensate for the drop in demand caused by zero migration and high rates of financial stress.

“While CHIA welcomes the $1 billion extension of the Commonwealth Government guarantee supporting the National Housing Finance and Investment Corporation’s (NHFIC) lending but this on its own is insufficient to drive substantial new social and affordable housing construction.

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