‘Still a lot of work to be done’: REIQ responds to government initiatives for housing crisis

Announced by the state Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk in September, the summit looked to address the urgency around multiple housing issues in the state. 

The event saw over 200 representatives from governments, social services, charities, property and construction sectors come together to address critical issues, including unlocking land and housing supply, fast-tracking social housing, as well as the need for collaboration on housing by all levels of government and the private sector.

During the summit, Ms Palaszczuk also unveiled that the Queensland government will bolster its Housing Investment Fund (HIF) to $2 billion, effectively doubling the financing for the building of 13,000 new dwellings in the state. 

In the Housing Summit Outcomes Report, the state government outlined two main aspects — housing supply and housing support — which the initiatives from the summit would focus on.

One of the key actions in the report is the government pledging $56 million towards new housing and initiatives such as rental support. 

On top of this, $48.5 million will go towards several housing relief measures, which include: 

• $11.7 million to aid 2,500 renters maintain their tenancies
• $10 million to grow private rental assistance products and services for people experiencing severe rental stress
• $10 million to deliver additional temporary emergency accommodation with onsite support
• $8.5 million in additional support for after-hours homelessness outreach support service in Cairns, Townsville, the Sunshine Coast, Gold Coast and Brisbane
• $3.3 million for cost-of-living relief, including emergency food relief

Speaking on the report, REIQ chief executive Antonia Mercorella said the immediate financial housing support — which will 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.

She said that the immediate support is a “welcome announcement” given that the state is currently facing one of the “tightest rental markets in memory”. 

In a separate report released earlier this month, REIQ stated that the Sunshine State capital continues to be a virtually no-go zone for prospective renters, as the state’s tight rental market showed no signs of significant easing in the latest quarter. 

Ms Mercorella said the report exposed the complexities of the housing issues Queensland is facing and claimed that no stakeholders present under the Housing Summit were operating under the assumption that there would be an easy fix to the housing crisis. 

But she pointed out that “there was a clear willingness and urgency in the room to see the rubber hit the road”. 

“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,” she added. 

With collaboration between different levels of government and the private sector taking centre stage during the summit, she also lauded the government’s announcement of a community engagement and awareness campaign. 

She referred to the initiative as “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”. 

“This is a chance for the state government to meaningfully lead this and put this collaborative approach into action. 

“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,” the REIQ executive stated. 

While Ms Mercorella acknowledged the report’s high points, the REIQ executive criticised the lack of clarity on how the report’s outcomes will be achieved. 

As of writing, no details have been released about how those experiencing housing stress can access the outlined support or when it would be made available.

“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,” Ms Mercorella stated. 

She said the REIQ proposed the audit measures, educational campaign, and planning reforms during the event, and she voiced the institute’s disappointment that some of the key ideas and recommendations at the summit were not adopted by the government.

But she remarked that the state government’s move to audit state-owned land and buildings to determine which could be repurposed for residential use was well received by the institute. 

“[We] trust that this audit will extend to local government and non-government organisations in a meaningful way,” she said.

Ms Mercorella said another key theme raised during the summit that was missed out on the report was the potential of built-to-rent models in addressing the housing crisis issue. 

“It’s surprising that there are no new commitments surrounding this in the report,” she commented.

The executive also pointed out that initiatives for downsizing — which REIQ believes will help ease the supply shortage in the housing market — were also “a missed opportunity in this 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,” she concluded.