ACOSS applauds the Federal Government's deal with the Greens to invest in an additional $500 million to retrofit another 50,000 social housing properties with energy-efficient, electric and solar upgrades.
"This is an important investment that will improve the lives of thousands of people living in social housing who are struggling with extremely hot conditions and skyrocketing energy costs," said Dr Cassandra Goldie, ACOSS CEO.
"Home energy upgrades mean permanent and significant cuts to energy bills, healthier living conditions, and a significant reduction in carbon emissions.
"Recent ACOSS research shows that people experiencing financial stress are struggling to cool their homes in the summer and are becoming seriously unwell from the heat.
"We applaud the Greens and the Government for listening to the voices of the community and working together to deliver this funding, which will help ensure people on low incomes are not left behind in the energy transition."
ACOSS, along with others across a range of sectors, has long been calling on the government and parliament to invest substantially in upgrading and retrofitting social housing.
"We urge states and territories to match this funding so that more people in social housing benefit, and, along with the federal government, commit to upgrading all social housing by 2030," said Dr Goldie. "Solutions to ensure people in private rentals and low-income homeowners can also benefit from home energy upgrades are also urgently needed. This includes mandating energy performance standards for rental properties."
The deal involves an additional $500 million to expand the Social Housing Energy Performance Initiative (SHEPI) for home energy upgrades to another 50,000 public and community homes, permanently reducing power bills for tenants by approximately $1,800 annually per household.
Current federal funding for SHEPI is $300 million with matching funding from states and territories (upgrading 60,000 homes). If states and territories choose to match this extra funding, it could be expanded to $1 billion and 100,000 homes.
