QLD Budget: Billion dollar rescue for tough housing market
Queensland’s housing market is sizzling off demand driven in part by interstate buyers. Picture: NCA NewsWire / John Gass
Queensland is set to kick off “the largest concentrated investment in social housing” in its history – allocating billions to boost supply and help those falling through the cracks of a sizzling property market.
Projects that boosted social housing, redeveloped under-utilised state land or delivered mixed use developments would be fast tracked, according to Communities and Housing minister Leeanne Enoch.
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As well as that almost 10,000 new social and affordable housing units would be created over the next four years, including 7,400 new builds.
“This is the largest concentrated investment in social housing in Queensland’s history,” a Queensland government statement said after the budget was announced Tuesday.
Queensland Communities and Housing minister Leeanne Enoch. Picture: AAP Image/Dan Peled.
Ms Enoch described it as a bold new housing plan backed by a $1.9 billion investment over four years and a new $1 billion Housing Investment Fund.
“We know the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic as well as interstate migration are adding more pressure to the housing market, and this is making it harder for people to find a home, especially vulnerable Queenslanders who are experiencing financial stress,” she said.
“That is why we are investing $1.9 billion over four years to increase social housing stock and get more vulnerable Queenslanders into homes quicker.”
She said the returns from the new $1 billion Housing Investment Fund would be used to drive new supply to help current and future housing needs. Around $160 million was anticipated in returns over four years from the Queensland government Housing Investment Fund.
Picture: Josh Woning.
Ms Enoch said the move in response to “current unforeseen challenges that Queensland is now facing”.
“The funds will also be used to ready government land for projects, preliminary works on identified sites and scoping and feasibility studies to get more Queenslanders into stable accommodation faster.”
Incoming Queensland executive director of the Property Council, Jen Williams, welcomed the boost to social housing, saying shortages were “already at a flash point in some parts of the state”
“Ensuring that housing supply keeps up with population growth is going to be critical as Queensland enters a golden decade of opportunity in the lead up to the 2032 Olympics,” she said.
“Covid has resulted in many southerners reassessing where and how they want to live. And the answer for many is Queensland. Over the coming months when we are announced as an Olympic City and the international borders re-open, the pace of growth will certainly shift a gear again.”
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“Greater investment in social housing will be critical in ensuring the entire community benefits from the opportunities that the state’s new-found international attention will bring.”
The Property Council called for the Queensland government to also look into fast tracking and unlocking new private housing by investing in the infrastructure required, “especially in greenfield areas where demand is currently at its highest levels ever”.
New housing models like ‘Build-to-Rent’ were also called for to increase the supply of rental housing.
“The industry has previously welcomed the Government’s Build-to-Rent pilot projects as an acknowledgment of the benefits of this housing typology. These pilot projects must now be matched with a commitment to address taxation and regulatory hurdles so that this sector can turbocharge the pace of delivery of quality rental housing in Queensland.”
Takeaway:
– A new $1 billion Housing Investment Fund to be set up to drive new supply for housing needs.
– A new Action Plan 2021-25 to see 6,365 new social and affordable homes before June 30, 2025.