Cassy O'Connor MP | Greens Leader and Housing spokesperson
Calls by the Master Builders’ Association for a doubling of the First Home Owner’s grant are worth considering but government stimulus money might be better directed into increasing the supply of affordable housing through a more comprehensive rent-to-buy scheme.
An expanded Housing Tasmania HomeShare or housing equity scheme could help thousands of low income Tasmanians into home ownership, tackling the housing crisis and delivering a pipeline of works for the residential construction industry.
A targeted statewide home equity scheme would help to lift low income workers out of the rental poverty trap and provide a strong financial foundation for life.
The positives in this approach are multiple. Increased home ownership among people who are usually shut out of the market, less pressure on the rental market, a financial return to government over time, and sustained activity for the skilled residential construction sector and the small traders it supports.
The pandemic response provides the opportunity for a fresh start on housing. We can’t allow ourselves to walk back in to the extremes of the housing crisis.
As a State, we can do much better by low income Tasmanians and spend public stimulus funds to tackle housing disadvantage so we emerge from these dark times a better and fairer Tasmania.