In June 2014, Minister for Social Services Kevin Andrews warned that Australia is facing a shortfall of 300,000 dwellings within the next decade. There is an increasingly important role for third- and private-sector organisations to play in providing much-needed accommodation for low-income Australians, who are being squeezed out of the private housing market by increasing property values.
David Cant, CEO of Brisbane Housing Company (BHC), is fiercely dedicated to addressing the need for affordable housing in Australia. After gaining his undergraduate degree in politics and economics at Oxford University, David went on to study town planning at University College, London. He got his first job in 1978 working as a special project officer for the Community Housing Association in North London, and has been working in the social- and affordable-housing industry ever since.
David came to Australia in 2000 for a sabbatical year, but was persuaded by the then director-general of Housing in Queensland to work with her staff to see whether a housing company could be viably set up in Brisbane. ”The intellectual and the emotional challenges of creating a new company by adapting a UK model were difficult, but also very satisfying. I was effectively starting again with a blank slate,” David says. ”At the outset, BHC required a subsidy level of about 80 per cent from the government. Things have changed since then: we’ve created surpluses and made profits. These are directed back into the company to help fund further developments and further reduce the need for public subsidies.”