A Senate inquiry has warned that the federal government is on track to fall short of its housing targets as major fault lines emerge.
A Greens‑initiated Senate inquiry into intergenerational housing inequity has concluded Australia is facing a “housing crisis out of control”, pointing to missed build targets and an entrenched reliance on tax breaks to power the housing system.
The inquiry, chaired by Greens senator Barbara Pocock, examined how policy settings had reshaped housing outcomes between Baby Boomers and younger generations.
Evidence presented to the committee showed that younger people had been “disproportionately harmed” by governments “walking away” from directly providing housing.
The committee heard that in 2024, 40 per cent of young renters in large cities were paying more than 30 per cent of disposable income on housing, up from 26 per cent in 2001 – a 14‑percentage‑point jump in a single generation.
Pocock framed these trends as the product of decades of decisions that favoured older, wealthier property owners.
She said: “Forty-five per cent of tax breaks for wealthy property investors have benefited baby boomers. Meanwhile young people today face rising rents and house prices, more insecure employment and massive HECS debts. We are looking at an intergenerational chasm.
“Housing affordability has deteriorated significantly in Australia, particularly for younger generations. Home ownership rates among young people are falling.”
Federal government housing targets at risk
The inquiry also cast doubt on whether the Albanese government could hit its headline supply goals.
It warned that the National Housing Accord commitment to build 1.2 million homes by 2029 was unlikely to be met on current trajectories.
On the social housing side, the committee estimated that around 640,000 people are currently in need of social housing, far beyond the 190,000‑strong public housing waiting list.
Even if Labor’s Housing Australia Future Fund (HAFF) delivers its promised 40,000 social and affordable dwellings over the coming decade, the inquiry found that this would only address about 6 per cent of the estimated shortfall.
“The HAFF is too slow, it’s too complicated, it isn’t touching the sides, and it isn’t delivering housing for future generations,” she said.
Pocock was critical of the federal budget’s housing package, saying that it failed to shift the dial for the most vulnerable.
“Labor’s budget does nothing for renters, homeless people and for the 190,000 people on public housing waiting lists,” Pocock said.
The inquiry also challenged efforts to pin the housing crisis on migration alone.
It noted that dwelling prices rose roughly 32 per cent during the COVID‑19 period when international migration was effectively halted.
Tax settings, bank profits, and calls for change
The inquiry concluded that a sustained increase in investor activity had been a key driver of “massive house price growth” and further said that the major banks were “among the biggest winners of the housing crisis” due to the fact that they derive more profit from home loans than from business credit.
According to evidence cited by the committee, the big banks make about $229,000 in profit over the life of a typical 30‑year home loan.
Pocock said policy tweaks would not be enough to reverse the trends identified by the inquiry.
“Tinkering around the edges of a broken housing system won’t fix the housing crisis,” she said.
The Greens flagged that they would use the final report to press for large‑scale social housing construction, stronger renter protections, and substantial changes to investor tax breaks.
[Related: Higher density approvals slump as housing target gap widens]
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