Today's state budget has missed the opportunity to solve Western Australia's worsening housing and homelessness emergency, peak body for WA's homelessness and community housing sectors Shelter WA said.
"Despite some welcome measures such as $6 million to grow Community Housing sector capacity, $20.4 million for homelessness outreach and services, and the Build to Rent Kickstart Fund, the budget fails to deliver any bold or substantive initiatives to meet the scale and urgency of the crisis," Shelter WA Chair Kieran Wong said
"In essence, this budget only funds an additional 660 social and affordable rental homes - we needed an ambition at ten times this level.
"This was the year the government aimed to end rough sleeping, but we are nowhere near meeting that goal and it's disappointing to see no announcements in this budget to help us get there.
"The forecast budget surplus of $2.4 billion will bring WA's total budget surpluses to $25 billion since 2020, and our state is touted as the economic powerhouse of the nation.
"Yet there are more than 22,000 households on the social housing waitlist and more than 2,300 people sleeping rough.
"The average waiting time for social housing is now 151 weeks. Where will WA's most vulnerable people go for three years, while they wait?
"The state government has never had a stronger mandate or a clearer crisis to implement bold and urgent actions that are needed to solve the housing and homelessness emergency.
"Unfortunately we've been handed a budget that will continue to be overshadowed by record-breaking rent increases, sky-high housing waitlists and more and more families who are forced to live in cars and tents," Mr Wong said.
The budget included:
$6m Community Housing Capability Program - a key advocacy ask delivered for our members;
$246 million to deliver 548 social and affordable homes in partnership with community housing providers, to bring the total number of social homes delivered each year to 1,000;
$75 million Build to Rent Kickstart Fund to deliver around 400 long term rental homes with a requirement of at least 30% affordable rentals
$20.4 million homelessness initiatives including $10.4 million to expand assertive homelessness outreach across Perth and Mandurah, $3.1 million to grow Housing First Support Services in and around Bunbury, $3.8 million for East Perth Common Ground, and $4.8 million for Perth Passages Youth Engagement Hub;
$1.4 million to extend the Rent Relief Scheme to December 2025.
Shelter WA applauds the government's $6 million Community Housing Capacity Building Program that will help grow the sector and scale up the delivery of social housing. This was one of Shelter WA's key election asks, which shows the Cook Government has been listening.
"Community housing providers have every reason to celebrate the capacity building program win," Mr Wong said. "This is a significant step forward in strengthening our sector's ability to deliver more urgently needed social and affordable housing across the state.
"A large focus of our election platform was for more commitment to scale up what's already working in the community, and we look forward to showing what our sector is capable of."
While the extension of the Rent Relief Scheme is welcomed, more needs to be done to tackle the fundamental drivers of WA's catastrophic rental situation.
"The rent relief scheme has prevented thousands of Western Australians from becoming homeless, but we need to address the reason people need to access this scheme in the first place," Mr Wong said.
"With rents skyrocketing, a severe shortage of affordable homes, and vacancy rates still below one per cent across WA, the problem is clear: there is no justifiable reason for rents to rise faster than CPI - which is down to 2.75% in this budget. We will continue to advocate for rent increases to be capped at or below inflation.
"We live in Australia's wealthiest state, delivering record headline economic indicators year on year. But this budget raises a fundamental question: who is it really designed to help? It's clearly not the hundreds of thousands experiencing housing stress, homelessness, or living in overcrowded homes."
Tinkering at the edges is no longer enough; we need action that meets the scale of the housing emergency. Western Australia's affordable housing situation is at breaking point.
"Shelter WA will double down on our efforts to achieve our vision for a housing system that enables all people to thrive," Shelter WA Chair Kieran Wong concluded.
Notes
** Based on $246m for 548 social and affordable homes, of which 67 are Affordable Band B homes and $75m for 400 long term rentals from the Build to Rent Kickstart fund, of which 30% will be affordable.
Key Figures
In the 2021 census, there were 9,729 people experiencing homelessness in WA – which included 2,315 people rough sleeping - this is a 114% increase from 2016.
In April 2025, there were 1,934 people rough sleeping or temporarily sheltered just across the five By Name List communities across Perth and the South West.
50% of specialist homelessness services (SHS) clients in WA are Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander, despite making up just over 3% of the population
15% of SHS clients are employed – up 62% over five years
There are currently 22,066 applications on the social housing waitlist (at 30 April 2025) - Including 7,125 priority applications - this budget will show average wait times have once again increased to 151 weeks.
In Perth, someone earning $70,000 a year will spend 58% of their income on rent
At June 2025 there were 4,071 private rentals currently listed across all of WA - but only 156 under $400, compared with at least 9,948 listings for whole homes/apartments on Airbnb
WA will need over 5,700 social and affordable homes a year to 2041 just for anticipated population growth
There is a current gap of 7,700 private rentals according to the Bankwest Curtin Economic Centre, and 210,000 Western Australians consider their housing unaffordable.
