Housing support welcomed, but supply solutions still a WIP

The Real Estate Institute of Queensland (REIQ) has welcomed the immediate support to sustain tenancies, but says there’s still a lot of work to be done to address housing supply, in response to the Housing Summit Outcomes Report released today.

REIQ CEO Antonia Mercorella said the immediate financial housing support, to be released prior to Christmas, would come as a welcome relief to the Queensland community.

“The $48.5 million towards housing support, including tenancy sustainment, loans and grants, will benefit the most vulnerable in our community by helping to keep a roof over their head and reducing cost-of-living pressures over Christmas,” Ms Mercorella said.

“Given we’re facing the tightest rental market in memory, we all hoped to see some immediate support come out of the Summit to provide some reprieve, so this is certainly a welcome announcement.”

Ms Mercorella said the report laid-bare the complexities of the housing issues Queensland is facing.

“No stakeholders at the Housing Summit were under the illusion that there would be an overnight fix to the housing crisis, but there was a clear willingness and urgency in the room to see the rubber hit the road,” she said.

“This report indicates that clearly there are matters still being explored that are a work in progress and in some respects that speaks to the complexity of the housing crisis.

“While we had hoped to see some more firm commitments on the supply side of the equation at this stage, we look forward to seeing further detail emerge and the ‘areas for further work’ progressed with the same sense of urgency as the Summit.”

She said the REIQ saw opportunity in the audit, educational campaign, and planning reforms, but was disappointed that some of the key ideas and recommendations at the Summit had not made it into this report.

“The announcement of an audit to identify state-owned land and buildings for residential use is welcomed by the REIQ, and we trust that this audit will extend to local government and Non-Government Organisations in a meaningful way,” she said.

“At the Summit, we all spoke to the importance of different levels of government and the private sector working together and this is a chance for the State Government to meaningfully lead this and put this collaborative approach into action.

“We appreciate that the Community Engagement and Awareness Campaign is a crucial step to ensure the community is on board with the change in housing diversity that needs to happen to support our growing community.

“The campaign goes hand-in-hand with the flagged planning reforms – a widely recognised key barrier to housing supply, and we will be keenly watching this space for more detail as it progresses.

“Another key theme that was raised at the Summit was Built-to-Rent models and the general consensus was that it was a sensible part of the solution, so it’s surprising that there are no new commitments surrounding this in the report.

“The REIQ will also continue to advocate for initiatives that make downsizing a much easier financial decision for older Queenslanders, to significantly free up much-needed housing stock, and our view is more can be done at all levels to achieve this, and is a missed opportunity in this report.”

Read more about the REIQ’s recommendations to the Housing Summit here.