• A Mettam Liberal Government will empower community housing providers to invest record amounts in social housing.

• Social investment plan will hand 1,000 new social houses to not-for-profits to leverage new investment in social housing.

• Community Housing Providers to manage more homes and further professionalise their operations.

• WA Liberals commit to transparency around social housing data, ending Labor’s hiding of the figures.

• WA Liberals commit $940 million to tackle Labor’s housing crisis and promise to honour all currently budgeted expenditure on social and affordable housing and homelessness.

The WA Liberals Social Housing Policy, released today, signals an entirely new approach to delivery and management of social housing in Western Australia.

Shadow Housing Minister Steve Martin said the WA Labor Government’s dismal record on social housing had left far too many Western Australians homeless or in totally inadequate housing.

“The WA Liberals’ social housing policy delivers on our commitment in our Building A Better Future Blueprint, with innovation that will leverage current market forces to meaningfully increase the stock of social housing in WA,” Mr Martin said.

“The WA Liberals plan will transfer 250 homes into the sector every year, a more than tenfold increase on 23-homes-a-year growth under the Labor.”

Five commitments will be made as part of the strategy:

1. TRANSFERRING OWNERSHIP OF 1,000 PUBLIC HOUSES TO COMMUNITY HOUSING PROVIDERS, INCREASING THEIR ASSET BASE TO FUND NEW HOMES

Like public housing, WA’s community housing sector has been ignored by Labor, with an increase of only 139 community homes from June 2018 to June 2024, the equivalent of 23 homes a year.

A Mettam Liberal Government will directly support our community housing sector by transferring ownership of 1000 newly built public homes to the community housing sector over the next four years.

Assuming an average home value of $500,000 (with the current REIWA median for a two-bedroom unit at $499k), this would represent a boost to the assets held by WA’s community housing sector of approximately $500 million.

These transfers will allow Community Housing Providers to expand their operations by increasing the asset base against which they can borrow finance, enabling more homes to ultimately be provided by the not-for-profit sector.

Community housing providers would be required to pay only any agreed value of lost income from the asset to the State over a four-year period, not the cost of the asset itself.

2. INVESTING $6 MILLON TO EXPAND THE CAPACITY OF WA’S COMMUNITY HOUSING PROVIDERS

A Mettam Liberal Government will work with stakeholder groups, such as Shelter WA, to build the capacity of Community Housing Providers to further facilitate the growth of affordable housing stock in WA.

The $6 million Community Housing Capacity Building Program would include:

          • Individually tailored grants to providers of up to $50,000 for assistance and training in relation to finance, business operations, property development, risk management and governance.

          • Growth Readiness Assessments, a comprehensive assessment of a provider’s current operation and recommendations for future potential.

          • Provision of a range of learning and development training and resources to support providers, including culturally appropriate training and materials to assist Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisations.

A thriving community housing sector reduces pressure on the state housing system and allows tenants to receive Commonwealth Rent Assistance, further supporting affordability and leveraging existing opportunities.

3. PUBLISHING A REGULARLY UPDATED SOCIAL HOUSING DATA DASHBOARD ON THE DEPARTMENT OF COMMUNITIES WEBSITE

Housing Minister John Carey refuses to provide the WA public with the number of Western Australians on the public housing waitlist — claiming that he does not have the figure, and it would be too resource-intensive to produce it.

This is an unacceptable failure of management and transparency.

A Mettam Liberal Government will publish a regularly updated social housing data dashboard on the Department of Communities website.

This will include the following:

          • The number of individuals represented on the public housing waitlist.

          • The number of individuals successfully housed into public and community housing in the preceding month.

          • Average public housing waiting times, statewide and by region.

          • Total stock figures for public and community housing, by region.

          • Total number of public housing disruptive behaviour complaints, by region.

The figures will be updated live, where feasible.

This dashboard will not replace the WA Alliance to End Homeless Dashboard but complement it.

4. COMMITTMENT TO MAINTAINING AND DELIVERING CURRENTLY PLANNED EXPENDITURE

The Cook Labor Government is desperate to paper over their eight years of failure to deliver additional social housing investment.

As a result, there is now a significant sum of money budgeted for social housing over the forward estimates, with the recent increases in spending to date going entirely towards recovering the lost ground since 2017. The WA Liberals are not proposing to ‘outbid’ these late commitments, but to focus on delivery.

We will take a ‘do no harm’ approach, guaranteeing the current quantum of funding for social and affordable and housing and homelessness across the forward estimates.

5. REDUCING PRESSURE ON SOCIAL HOUSING BY BOOSTING HOUSING SUPPLY

Lack of housing supply is the most significant factor driving the housing crisis.

The WA Liberals have already announced over $940 million in commitments to tackle Labor’s housing crisis. These measures will have a flow-on impact, reducing pressures on public and community housing.

These include:

          • $300 million in investment through our Housing Infrastructure Investment Fund (HIIF) to prepare land for 90,000 homes to be built across high-growth areas.

          • $200 million in investment through the HIIF to boost construction of 10,000 apartments.

          • $100 million for infrastructure to build more homes in regional WA.

          • $240 million in stamp duty relief for first home buyers, helping thousands of first home buyers get into their first homes.

          • $100 million for a downsizing rebate for seniors, encouraging a more efficient use of current housing stock, boosting supply.

WA Liberal Leader Libby Mettam said Labor has got its priorities wrong and unfortunately it had been families that had been left to pick up the pieces of their lives in the wake of Labor’s total failure to provide social housing.

“Behind every house Labor has failed to provide over the past eight years is a family struggling to keep a roof over their head while still feeding and clothing their family,” she said.

“Labor has failed one of the most fundamental responsibilities of government.”

Mr Martin said that Labor’s approach to and view of social housing were stuck in a by-gone era and had no relevance to the current state of the housing market, community needs or market forces.

“By handing ownership of 1,000 newly built public homes to community housing providers over the next four years, we will boost the asset base of those providers by about $500 million, enabling them to unlock new investment in the sector,” he said.

“WA's community housing providers do fantastic work supporting vulnerable Western Australians, our policy will support that work and build resilience and capacity in the sector."