Tax credits the missing link in affordable housing crisis, economist says

Industry Super chief economist, Dr Stephen Anthony, has proposed that affordable housing tax credits could be the missing link in resolving Australia’s housing affordability crisis.

Anthony said the tax credits would allow institutional investors to write down or write off every dollar invested without impacting vital rate-of-return benchmarks upon which project viability often rests.

The national shortage of sub-market rentals and emergency housing is now 350,000, and in NSW and Victoria, 40 to 60 per cent of urban households are locked out of rental markets, he said.

Housing distress leads to homelessness, wage stagnation and welfare dependency - and the productivity loss levies an economic burden on all levels of government, Dr Anthony said.