Budget: Government's $350 million housing pledge welcomed by housing advocate with 'social crisis' gripping Central Tablelands

Treasurer Jim Chalmers delivered his first budget on Tuesday evening (October 25) drawing both positive and negative responses from a Central West perspective.

The document included an ambitious $350 million National Housing Accord to build one million new homes in five years from 2024, with a focus on affordable housing.

Everybody's Home spokesperson Kate Colvin said the housing advocacy group welcomed the budget and said the housing plan was crucial for regions like Orange.

"The government is going to build or invest in 55,000 social and affordable rentals over five years, that's really good news," she told the Central Western Daily.

"There's an enormous crisis [in regional Australia]. Just in the Central Tablelands rents have increased 49 per cent since the beginning of the pandemic which is just a phenomenal increase. I suspect there are very few people working locally who have had a 49 per cent pay increase over two years.

"People are inevitably spending more of their income on rent and that can mean really tough choices for people. Obviously for some they wouldn't have been able to keep up with that kind of rental increase so people would have lost their homes.

"With a 0.9 per cent vacancy rate that just makes it incredibly difficult for people to find anew home."

The Central Western Daily has extensively covered the housing crisis in Orange, from families forced into homelessness to the struggles of social housing providers to meet demand.

Ms Colvin said the lack of hosing in the regions had devastating flow on effects for local economies.

"It's a social crisis in regional areas, it's also an economic crisis," she said.

"Workers won't move to the Central Tablelands to take up jobs if they can't find a home. It means the area misses out on skills that people bring and local businesses can't operate at full capacity because they can't get the workforce.

"The housing problem is putting a handbrake on the regional economy. Everything falls apart without housing."

The NSW government also welcomed the accord, which involves joint funding from both federal and state governments.

"It recognises the importance of states and territories to expedite zoning, planning and land releases for social and affordable housing," Minister for Planning and Homes Anthony Roberts said.

"I welcome the construction sector peak bodies' commitment under the Accord to support high energy efficiency rating construction and the training of more apprentices under an extended Australian Skills Guarantee."

Ms Colvin said the federal-state collaboration was key to improving housing across the country.

"The housing problems are so big that they really need federal and state governments to work together to solve them," she explained.

"It takes resources from both levels of government and also takes action from planning, which is a state responsibility.

"The fact the government has brought together the states and achieved this accord is a really positive sign."

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