New national home fund to build more houses, reduce construction costs
Rezoning more land and setting up a national fund to help build more homes and reduce the cost of construction is proposed by the businesses lobby under a plan to fix the nation’s housing crisis.
Addressing labour and materials shortages is also amongst the measures proposed by the Business Council of Australia to help the government meet its housing targets.
“Australia has a housing supply crisis and we need urgent action from all levels of government to fix it,” CEO Bran Black said while launching the group’s housing report.
“We want the federal government to create a new national reform fund, like the one created in the 1990s, that incentivises states to fix regulation and planning bottlenecks that hold back homes being built.”
Skilled migration and trained workers are also needed to address shortages in the industry, Mr Black said.
Federal opposition housing spokesman Michael Sukkar said the coalition supported some parts of the plan but had “reservations” about other aspects.
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Asked if he supported the call for more foreign workers, Mr Sukkar said: “You’ve got to reorientate the composition of who you bring in.”
“We’ve made clear we’re going to reduce migration to free up 100,000 homes for Australians,” he told ABC radio on Monday.
“Now you can simultaneously ensure that of the generous migration program that Australia does have in place, that you reorientate it to the sorts of skills we need.”
One way to boost tradies would be to harmonise licensing and accreditation across states and territories, he said, so those registered in one state could work in others.
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The business council’s wishlist of 29 recommendations comes after the opposition unveiled a $5 billion plan to build enabling infrastructure – such as water and sewerage – to get projects moving, as it takes the fight to Labor over housing policy ahead of the next federal election.
It has further pledged to cut building red tape under its plan in a move welcomed by business, building and property groups.
But Labor says the coalition’s plan is already part of its own housing policy to address a shortage of homes.
The government also chastised both the opposition and Greens for stalling legislation in parliament that would set up a shared equity scheme allowing some homeowners to enter the market.
The Greens are holding out support for the Help to Buy scheme, arguing for more social housing investment and cuts to tax concessions for property investors.
Labor ministers have again ruled out changes to concessions on negative gearing and capital gains.
Finance Minister Katy Gallagher warned the Greens to work constructively with the government after the minor party’s local members lost seats in the ACT election.
“It’ll be interesting to see whether there is any self-reflection on losing half of their seats, and what that might be due to,” the ACT senator told AAP on Sunday.
Greens housing spokesman Max Chandler-Mather maintains the party’s strategy is working and claimed that by leveraging its balance of power in the Senate it had forced Labor to invest more in social housing during negotiations.
