Australia faces a fundamental misalignment in housing priorities. While homelessness services struggle to meet demand and hundreds of thousands wait for affordable homes, government spending reveals a troubling pattern: more money flows to property investor tax breaks than to the combined total spent on social housing, homelessness services and rent assistance.
The numbers tell a stark story. Federal spending on property investor tax breaks reached $12.3 billion in 2025—surpassing the $9.6 billion allocated to social housing, homelessness services, and rent assistance combined, according to analysis by the Australian Council of Social Service (ACOSS).
“This report today shows housing stress and homelessness are getting worse while absurdly generous tax breaks drive up home prices and supercharge inequality in our society,” said ACOSS Acting CEO Jacqueline Phillips.
The Rental Crisis Pushing Australians Toward Homelessness
Even with government assistance, low-income renters are sliding into precarity. Data from the Productivity Commission’s Report on Government Services reveals that 43 per cent of low-income renters experienced rental stress in 2024-25 despite receiving Commonwealth Rent Assistance. The situation has worsened dramatically over two decades—severe rental stress now affects 18.3 percent of rent assistance recipients, more than double the 8.1 percent recorded in 2004.
Mission Australia Deputy CEO Ben Carblis explains the core problem: “Commonwealth Rent Assistance isn’t keeping pace with rents. When payments fall behind, people fall behind on rent, and that puts them at risk of homelessness.”
Carblis points to a concerning vulnerability threshold: “Across Australia, up to 3.2 million people are at risk of losing their home from just one life shock like a rent increase, job loss or eviction.”
The consequences of inadequate support are visible in emergency services data. More than 56,000 people who needed crisis or longer-term accommodation were turned away from homelessness services due to housing shortages. Mission Australia alone saw demand for its homelessness services increase 19 percent in a single year.
“This data shows just how difficult it is for people to find and keep a safe, secure and truly affordable home,” Carblis said.
Social Housing: A Shrinking Safety Net
The erosion of Australia’s social housing stock represents one of the most significant policy failures in the country’s approach to homelessness. Social housing now comprises just 3.6 per cent of all dwellings, down from nearly 5.7 percent in the 1980s. Meanwhile, social housing construction has plummeted—from 22 per cent of all homes built in the 1950s and 15 percent in the 1970s to less than 2 percent annually today.
This contraction occurs as need intensifies. More than 254,000 households currently wait for social housing, including 122,457 in greatest need on priority waitlists—a 12 per cent increase. The waitlist has climbed steadily from approximately 141,000 in 2018 to 169,000 in 2024 and now approaches 190,000 households.
The composition of these waitlists reveals deepening crisis conditions. Forty-one percent of public housing waitlist households are now homeless or at risk of homelessness, compared to 26 percent in 2015. Persistent homelessness—defined as experiencing homelessness for more than seven months over a two-year period—has risen from 22 percent of service users in 2019 to 27.4 percent.
“More people are struggling to afford the private rental market, pushing them into homelessness and onto growing social housing waitlists,” Phillips said. “With new social housing accounting for less than two per cent of homes built each year, the situation is set to worsen, not improve.”
The Case for Prevention Over Crisis Response
Evidence from frontline services demonstrates that homelessness can be prevented when intervention occurs before crisis. Mission Australia’s tenancy support services achieved a 98 per cent success rate in keeping people housed.
“Almost all people who accessed our tenancy support services – 98% – were able to stay living in their homes and avoid homelessness,” Carblis said. “This shows that with a safe, secure home and the right support, delivered at the right time, homelessness can be prevented.”
Yet the system remains oriented toward crisis response rather than prevention. Carblis notes the pressure on emergency services: “Every hour, more than 3,200 people in Australia seek help from homelessness services like those provided by Mission Australia. At the same time, our frontline staff face huge barriers helping people move out of homelessness because there simply aren’t enough affordable homes available.”
What Would Change the Trajectory
Advocates propose specific interventions to address both immediate need and structural problems. ACOSS calls for gradually halving the 50 per cent Capital Gains Tax discount and phasing out negative gearing over five years—reforms that would free resources for social investment while moderating property price inflation.
“Property investor tax breaks come at a staggering cost of more than $12 billion each year, which could be spent on social housing, social services and supports that benefit everyone,” Phillips said.
Mission Australia advocates for increasing the maximum rate of Commonwealth Rent Assistance by at least 60 per cent, alongside raising JobSeeker and other income support payments to at least $589 weekly. Carblis frames these as essential stability measures: “We urgently need the maximum rate of rental assistance increased by at least 60%, alongside a review of rental subsidies so they genuinely reflect housing costs. Increasing JobSeeker and other income support payments to at least $589 a week will also help people cover the basics and stay housed.”
On supply, both organisations emphasise the need for substantial social housing construction. Carblis proposes a specific benchmark: “At a minimum, one in every ten new homes built should be social or affordable housing. And these homes must be paired with the right support, particularly for people leaving homelessness or with complex needs, so families and individuals can stay housed and rebuild their lives.”
Mission Australia proposes a National Housing and Homelessness Plan centred on prevention, including a $500 million Homelessness Prevention Transformation Fund to intervene before rental stress escalates to homelessness.
The gap between current policy and need remains substantial. Approximately 640,000 households currently lack access to affordable housing. Carblis warns of continued deterioration without intervention: “While current government commitments are welcome, they don’t yet match the scale of need. Around 640,000 households are currently unable to access affordable housing, and without decisive action this number will grow significantly in the years ahead.”
He concludes with an assessment of what the evidence suggests is possible: “Homelessness isn’t inevitable. With the right investment and leadership, Australia can stop homelessness before it starts and make sure everyone has a safe place to call home.”
Ritchelle is Content Team Manager at Akolade, producing stories for Australia's not-for-profit sector at Third Sector.
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