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As a multi-decade scheme for rental affordability draws to a close, advocates are calling for immediate action to redress Australia’s strained housing market.
Independent Senator David Pocock has joined social housing advocates in calling on the government to urgently rethink its approach to housing, as the conclusion of the National Rental Affordability Scheme (NRAS) turns the screw on an “already acute” shortage of social and affordable housing.
This year, 6619 affordable rentals will fall off the scheme, forcing low- and middle-income households into a white-hot private rental market where runaway rents and record-low vacancy rates have left scores of the nation in housing stress.
But advocates say it’s the supply side that should be prompting swift action from the federal government. According to SQM Research, the national vacancy rate currently sits at just 1%, after the rate of empty homes fell to record lows in October last year.
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