Community Housing Federation of Australia 2015-16 Federal Budget briefing Budget paper 2 PM and C 1 New Remote Indigenous Housing Strategy, p141  The NPA on Remote Indigenous Housing will be replaced by a Remote Indigenous Housing Strategy.  It will run for three years from 2015-16, and include funding totalling $1.1b.  This is not being labelled a National Partnership Agreement. CHFA is unsure of the significance or otherwise of this.  Budget paper 2 shows no new funding allocated this financial year or in the forward estimates. This is because funding from the current NPARIH will be transferred to the new Strategy.  Note that funding will focus on ‘agreed outcomes’ that will be negotiated jurisdictions that receive funding. The budget papers state that this will include increased home ownership and employment, and improved property and tenancy management. 1 DSS 2 NPAH extension, p165  As previously announced, the National Partnership Agreement on Homelessness has received a two year funding extension. This came after significant lobbying by national housing and homelessness peak bodies.  It is concerning this funding has not been indexed. Analysis by Homelessness Australia shows that this constitutes a real loss of $12.58m between 2014-15 and 2016-17. In the context of increased demand on homelessness organisations this will compound the difficulties that they already face in meeting the support needs of people experiencing homelessness and escaping domestic violence.  The capital and research component of the funding ($44m/year) was removed when the current Government extended the Agreement in 2014-15 and has not been replaced. 2 3 National Disability Insurance Scheme—Sector Development Fund transfer, p165  The balance of the $149m Sector Development Fund (SDF), currently administered by the National Disability Insurance Agency, will be transferred to and managed by DSS. The Budget Paper appears to indicate that an additional $30m will be spent on the fund in the 2015-16 financial year.  The SDF was established to assist the disability sector, including people with disability, their families and service providers, to transition to the new arrangements for disability supports under NDIS.1 CHFA had envisaged that the community housing sector may be eligible to apply for funding.  Moving this funding from NDIA to DSS could be viewed as part of a broader movement by the current Government to reduce the policy capacity of NDIA, or at least ensure that it focuses primarily on delivering the NDIS and leaves the policy development to DSS. This is problematic because it means that policy is no longer being developed by an independent, statutory agency and instead is more directly accountable to the Minister. More information about the SDF can be found at the NDIA website http://www.ndis.gov.au/sites/default/files/documents/program_guidelines_sector_dev_fund_2 .pdf. 1 3 Treasury 4 Tax administration—statutory remedial power for the Commissioner of Taxation, p.32  This proposed budget measure may have significance for the community housing sector, especially if it allows the Commissioner of Taxation greater power to administer tax law that pertains to charitable tax concessions.2 At this stage, however, the details of the changes are unknown and CHFA has not taken legal advice on the matter. The Re:think tax discussion paper includes a section on the not-for-profit sector that raises a number of concerns about the policy direction of the Government, or at least Treasury and the ATO. These include a discussion about competitive neutrality between the NFP and for profit sectors, which harks back to policy differences that CHFA had with the previous Government and Treasury/ATO regarding competitive neutrality, conflating charitable organisations’ purpose with their activities, and what types of activities are considered charitable, amongst other things. These changes had—and may have—the potential to jeopardise the charitable tax concessions that community housing providers receive. 2 4 Budget paper 3 NAHA The NAHA is indexed at wage cost index 1. According to Budget paper 3, it is comprised of ‘a safety net wage adjustment weighted by 75 per cent and the all groups Consumer Price Index weighted by 25%’. Wage cost index 1 is the lowest of the six indexes used by Treasury, and this year it fell from a predicted 1.80% in 2014-15 to 1.40%. The Consumer Price Index has remained stable at 2.5%, highlighting the inadequacy of the indexing arrangement. Coupled with the wage increases in community sector as a result of the equal remuneration order from Fair Work Australia drop in real funding places pressure on both state and territory governments, and ultimately on the activities funded by the NAHA. Remote Indigenous Housing Budget figures from last year’s budget show the following expenditure on the National Partnership Agreement on Remote Indigenous Housing (NPARIH): 15-16 $368.2m 16-17 $411.7m 17-18 $447.6m This year’s budget figures are different from last year, although not substantially: 15-16 $363.1m 16-17 $406.5m 17-18 $361.9m This funding will be moved from the NPARIH to the new National Indigenous Housing Strategy, discussed above. 5 Portfolio budget statement—Social Services Housing is one of five outcome areas for the Department of Social Services. The Portfolio Budget Statement for the Department of Social Services shows that the funding and staffing levels to support this outcome remain relatively stable (p138). There have, however, been very significant cuts to the number of people working on housing and homelessness policy at DSS, and these figures may reflect a shift in resources to administer NRAS at the expense of other areas. 6