The high cost of housing is a critical problem in New South Wales and across Australia. No one is worse affected than tenants.

Across Australia, there are 445,000 households in private rental housing that are in 'housing stress' – that is, they are in the lowest 40 per cent of incomes and pay more than 30 per cent of their income on housing. Of these households, 172,000 are in 'housing crisis' – they pay more than 50 per cent of their income on housing.

In New South Wales, 57 per cent of low-income private renters are in housing stress.

Our housing system provides too few rental properties that are affordable to low-income households. It provides too few opportunities for low-income and moderate-income households to buy houses affordably.

Our tax system encourages wealthy households to over-spend on their own housing, and speculators and tax-manipulators to over-borrow and over-spend on unaffordable investment housing.

Our planning system frustrates attempts to plan for affordable housing.

Our social housing system is starved of funds and shrinking relative to the whole housing system.

The TU supports the campaigns by National Shelter, the National Affordable Housing Summit Group and Shelter NSW for all levels of government to develop affordable housing strategies and create more affordable housing – especially affordable rental housing.