Social housing to get $100m boost
An extra $100 million to support social and affordable housing will be included in next week’s state budget, Queensland’s treasurer has announced, as he defended the Crisafulli government’s move to remove affordable housing from state-facilitated projects.
Queensland Treasurer David Janetzki, who is also home ownership minister, announced the funding increase at a housing affordability summit on Wednesday, saying it was essential to the government’s plans to deliver thousands more social homes in the coming years.
“The old government operated 509 social and community houses a year,” Janetzki said. “We are aiming for four times that.”
The extra $100 million will build on the $5.6 billion committed in last year’s budget and will be distributed over the next four years.
Queensland Housing Minister Sam O’Connor said the total $5.7 billion would help the government meet its target of 2000 social and community homes each year, with a target of 53,500 properties met by 2044.
“We currently have 6,500 construction-related contracts, so 2,000 a year is my target and we will get as close to that as possible this year,” O’Connor said.
There are currently 26,500 Queenslanders on the state’s social housing waiting list, which peaked in October.
Although demand exceeds current forecasts, O’Connor said government’s decision to lift the affordable housing mandate State-supported developments
“In terms of those powers, they were doing the exact opposite of what the old government wanted them to do… [they] “Affordability is decreasing,” he said.
“Overall they were affecting the viability of projects and they were affecting the provision of housing supply.”
Deputy Prime Minister Jarrod Bleijie He appeared unimpressed when questioned on Monday about the decision to relinquish their powers and Write to developers to remove affordable housing From development practices on the Gold Coast and Brisbane.
“There was evidence presented to the Queensland Productivity Commission and the government accepted that recommendation in the productivity commission report, [that] He said it is better to partner with the private sector [and] “Let’s let the market determine that,” Bleijie said.
“You will get much better outcomes and opportunities for people.
“We pull every lever [available] to the state government for housing delivery because if there is more supply in the market, that will reduce the cost of building homes and affordability and as I have said a million times… availability equals affordability.”
Median house price in Brisbane reaches $1.17 million this yearMaking Queensland’s capital the second most expensive city in Australia.
There is no single definition of affordable housing, but the Queensland Housing Department he said before: “Housing is generally considered affordable for low- to moderate-income households spending no more than 30 percent of gross household income on housing costs.”
More announcements targeting housing affordability and investment are expected when the Crisafulli government announces its second state budget on June 23.
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