Tick of approval given to national cabinet housing plan

Following the Prime Minister’s announcement of a raft of new measures agreed upon by state and territory leaders to address the country’s housing issues, industry voices from across the property and housing sector have expressed strong support for the path the government has chosen.

The measures include working with state governments to unify some rental policies, such as transitioning to reasonable grounds evictions, limiting rental increases to once a year, and phasing in a set of minimum rental standards.

The nation’s states and territories have also agreed to ramp up building, aiming to construct 1.2 million homes in the next five years, while earning monetary bonuses from the federal government for exceeding their minimum commitments. To lay the groundwork for this construction boom, leaders have signed on to a “national planning reform blueprint” which will see them update housing supply targets at all levels of government, promote high-density housing in well-located areas, and streamline the approvals process.

It’s a plan that Master Builders Australia applauded as “game changing”; that it feels will “boost much-needed housing supply while taking pressure off some of the most vulnerable in our community”.

The group’s CEO, Denita Wawn, is now urging governments at all levels to implement the changes “as a matter of urgency”.

Her comments echoed those made by Real Estate Institute of Australia CEO Hayden Groves, who said: “We welcome the focus on building more homes and a boots on ground approach. It’s time to convert these words into action.”

Mr Groves also spoke in favour of the approach to rental reform taken by the government, stating that the plans struck a balance between protecting tenants while not discouraging investor activity.

“The nine-point plan for renters seeks out a reasonable balance between enabling consumer protection and ensuring we aren’t overregulating and therefore diminishing the rental supply pipeline,” he said.

Moreover, Real Estate Buyers Agents Association of Australia (REBAA) president Cate Bakos said that the decision not to overregulate – namely by rejecting the notion of pursuing a nationwide cap or freeze on rental prices – has been wise on the part of the government, ensuring that “the range of priorities announced after the national cabinet will be well-received by the wider industry”.

“It shows that all levels of government are committed to increasing the supply of housing, rather than promoting punitive rental reforms that would see more investors exit the market and put further upward pressure on rents,” she said.

Though the government had said on numerous occasions that a national rent freeze was not feasible and would not be up for consideration despite urging from the Greens party, it seems that following through with that promise has still delivered relief to those who objected to the proposal, winning them onside to a set of measures that intend to strengthen renters’ rights.

Quentin Kilian, CEO of the Real Estate Institute of Victoria, said his organisation is ready to come to the table, particularly now that the idea of a rental freeze has been thoroughly rejected.

“It’s reassuring to hear state and national leaders are now heeding our call to address the root cause of supply head on. With states now encouraged to focus on increasing housing supply in place of rental caps, we welcome the opportunity to work with the state government on how to relieve that pressure on the market for now and into the future,” Mr Kilian said.

And those on the housing advocacy side seem similarly pleased with the outcome of the national cabinet meeting, with the Community Housing Industry Association (CHIA) and National Shelter calling the package of planning and rental reforms “a step in the right direction”.

They particularly applauded the government for urging to consider “inclusionary zoning”, as they work to strengthen planning at all levels.

“Inclusionary zoning promises to be a real policy breakthrough,” said Wendy Hayhurst, CEO of CHIA.

“It should ensure that new housing developments include a percentage of social and affordable homes, significantly expanding housing options for people on low and modest incomes. The particularly great thing about it is that it’s not a tax on development – the ‘cost’ is baked into the price paid for the land,” Ms Hayhurst explained.

Getting that land ready for development has been something a number of national bodies have been loudly advocating for, with one such entity, the Property Council of Australia (PCA), stating that the measures show the government’s “commitment to strategic and sustainable planning”.

PCA chief executive Michael Zorbas said he is relieved to see national cabinet “tackling our housing supply deficit in a coordinated way for the first time in a long time”.

“Decades of strategic failure by governments has left us an unacceptably land-rich, housing-poor nation. There is a deficit of supply in social, key worker and market housing across the country,” Mr Zorbas said.

He added that he hopes Wednesday’s announcement marks “the first day of a strategic and accountable system for delivering the housing Australians need”.

The Urban Taskforce CEO, Tom Forrest, meanwhile, similarly welcomed the boosted target for building and the planning reforms set to assist the process, noting: “This is the first time in decades that the Commonwealth has offered substantial funding support to encourage the states to improve their planning systems and focus on the production of new housing.

“By putting money on the table, the Commonwealth is now in the driver’s seat on improved housing supply,” he said.

But Mr Forrest pointed out that it would be no easy feat to ramp up construction to the level required.

“The NSW share will be 387,000 new homes over the five years. That means we will need an average of over 77,000 new homes completed each year. Last year, there were only 47,000 new homes completed in NSW,” he noted.