Housing Crisis needs real action
The Sunshine Coast and Queensland are facing a housing crunch with a shortfall of new homes and record numbers of people facing homelessness, higher house prices, and higher rents as a result.
On the Sunshine Coast there has been a record number of people experiencing homelessness or working people who never expected to be homeless. This experience has also been reflected throughout Queensland. Here on the Coast, between 2016 and 2021, the average population increase was about 8,500 per year. This was before the COVID disruption. What did we see regarding new home approvals? We saw about 2,800 new home approvals on the Coast per year, well short of the numbers of new arrivals. Currently, we are sitting with a vacancy rate in the rental market of about 0.8 per cent. To cut a long story short, there is a lack of supply. This is being reflected everywhere.
This is an issue affecting every part of our community. The only way to fix Queensland and the Sunshine Coast’s Housing Crisis is to build more homes and increase housing supply over the short, medium, and long terms. This can be done with good planning which maintains liveability and sustainability, but it also requires the proper investment in the infrastructure.
However, for the last eight years Queensland has seen underinvestment in infrastructure that would have opened up new opportunities for young people to get into the housing market and either buy their first home or find a suitable rental.
I have people coming into my office who are sleeping in tents or sleeping in cars. When I talk to some of the social agencies and people who are out there trying to help these folks. There are heart breaking decisions being made about who they can and cannot help, even people living in cars.
I believe in good planning. I believe in having the right infrastructure in place to deliver the appropriate types of accommodation in our communities, but this government has completely dropped the ball. I believe its concept of build-to-rent is recognition and an admission that it has totally blown the systemic reform that is required to help encourage more investment in the private rental market that is the key to address the undersupply.
Our solutions to help ease the housing crisis is to:
- Deliver more residential lots (and therefore more homes) by working closely with local councils to identify areas for targeted and responsible development and build the necessary supporting infrastructure for these communities to grow and thrive.
- Unlock the Community Housing sector in Queensland. These organisations are ready made to help house the vulnerable, but have their hands tied behind their back due to the current policy settings of the Labor Government.
- Plan appropriately for the delivery of social housing so the supply of social housing is able to meet demand.
Please don’t hesitate to contact me if you need help or want to discuss issues of importance to you.