That the Senate—

(a) notes that:

   (i) the Morrison Government's HomeBuilder scheme includes grants of $25,000 for home renovations valued between $150,000 to $750,000,

   (ii) individuals can earn up to $125,000, and couples can earn up to $200,000, a year to be eligible for the grants, and

   (iii) there is a huge backlog of urgent repairs needed in Australia's social housing stock; and

The Greens have responded to the Morrison government’s ‘granite benchtop grant’ announcement today, saying its HomeBuilder scheme will use public money for private benefit and potentially make the homelessness crisis worse.

“Public money should be used to create construction jobs and tackle homelessness by building public housing, not to lift house values for people who can already afford large renovations,” said Greens Leader, Adam Bandt.

The Greens have said that the construction of public and community housing should drive construction stimulus, not ill-conceived and unnecessary new home and renovation grants.

Warning Scott Morrison against establishing a ‘Mansion Extension Fund’ in lieu of a public housing fund, the Greens say the proposal represents the height of hypocrisy for a government that criticised the construction of school halls as post-GFC stimulus.

Australian Greens Housing spokesperson, Senator Mehreen Faruqi, said:

The Greens support this motion. We have been strongly pushing for a massive investment from the federal government to build 500,000 public and community homes to provide much-needed roofs over people's heads. The COVID-19 crisis has exposed even more how broken our housing system is. It's time for the federal government to lead from the front with a multibillion-dollar investment to construct high-quality, climate-conscious public and community housing as part of the economic stimulus. This will also create tens of thousands of thousands of jobs and thousands of apprenticeships.

I move:

That the Senate—

(a) notes that:

   (i) housing is a human right and everyone deserves a home,

   (ii) the COVID-19 crisis has demonstrated how broken our housing system is, with decades of marketisation leading to extraordinarily unfair and inhumane housing outcomes for the community, and

   (iii) we must ensure a home for all during and after this crisis;

(b) calls on the National Cabinet to take leadership and put in place:

Australian Greens Housing spokesperson Senator Mehreen Faruqi has backed a call from a coalition of peak housing and homelessness groups to ramp up social housing construction to help solve the housing crisis and generate jobs during and after the COVID-19 pandemic.

Senator Faruqi said:

Australian Greens Housing spokesperson Senator Mehreen Faruqi and Family, Ageing & Community Services spokesperson Senator Rachel Siewert have said that today’s 2020 Rental Affordability Snapshot, released by Anglicare Australia, has highlighted the dire state of housing affordability in Australia, as well as the need for a permanent increase to the JobSeeker Payment (which has been temporarily increased for six months).

Senator Mehreen Faruqi said:

Australian Greens Housing spokesperson Senator Mehreen Faruqi and Leader of the Australian Greens Adam Bandt MP have said that the federal government must step up and develop a national housing policy that addresses big gaps left by the states.

Housing packages announced by state governments in recent days have largely left vulnerable renters in the lurch and failed to address the power imbalance between landlords and tenants.

Senator Mehreen Faruqi said:

Australian Greens Senator for NSW and Housing spokesperson Dr Mehreen Faruqi has said that the National Cabinet has manifestly failed to provide any leadership or direction on national housing policy during the COVID-19 pandemic. Housing must be put back on the agenda for a national response.

Senator Faruqi said:

“After weeks of promising more information and direction, the National Cabinet has completely dropped the ball on housing. It must be put back on the agenda and dealt with urgently.

Tonight’s crisis National Cabinet meeting should be focused on housing relief to protect renters and tenants, the Australian Greens said today, with the Greens Leader and Housing Spokesperson today writing to heads of Governments to urge compassion through this crisis.

The letter comes following the unprecedented decision of NSW Parliament last night to pass a Greens amendment that enables the Government to ban rental evictions, empower tenants and limit the powers of landlords through the COVID-19 pandemic via regulation alone.