Page 1393 - Week 05 - Wednesday, 6 April 2005
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MR HARGREAVES (Brindabella—Minister for Disability, Housing and Community Services, Minister for Urban Services and Minister for Police and Emergency Services) (10.47): The government will not be supporting Dr Foskey’s bill. The irony of this bill, Mr Speaker, is that it embodies an unsustainable public policy measure, mandatory inclusionary zoning, which the proponent hopes will produce the very opposite outcome of sustainable housing.
If this bill is enacted, property developers in the ACT will be forced to surrender a minimum of 4 per cent of any housing unit development consisting of 10 or more units, and any other unit development deemed to be a major unit development by regulations, to the ACT Commissioner for Housing. In lieu of such a transfer, property developers will be subject to a punitive tax in the form of an affordable housing contribution, which has to be a minimum equivalent of 4 per cent of the market value of the completed development.
Ultimately, such a tax will either be borne by the seller through a reduced sale price or passed on by the developer to the end purchaser through increased unit prices. In either instance, forfeiting of property or paying the punitive tax, the 4 per cent can be readjusted should an undefined relevant authority decide that it would be reasonable to do so. Among other matters that this relevant authority must consider in readjusting the 4 per cent figure is that, within 10 years of the bill being enacted, a minimum of 10 per cent of the value of all new major unit developments will be applied to the provision of affordable housing within the ACT.
On 30 June 2004, the then ACT Greens MLA, Kerrie Tucker, tabled an almost identical Land (Planning and Environment) (Unit Developments) Amendment Bill 2004 in the ACT Legislative Assembly. Ms Tucker’s bill was overwhelmingly defeated by a formal vote of 12 against and one for its enactment.
Dr Foskey’s bill therefore represents a second attempt by the ACT Greens to introduce mandatory inclusionary zoning legislation, which seeks to fulfil the ACT Greens’ election commitment of “requiring 10 per cent of all multiunit developments in the ACT to be set aside for public or social housing”.
The bill differs from Ms Tucker’s bill in two key areas. Firstly, the nominal percentage of a major unit development that must be set aside for affordable housing is now set at 4 per cent, as against the 10 per cent requirement in the previous bill. However, with the bill’s discretion to the relevant authority to readjust the 4 per cent figure to meet the stipulated target of 10 per cent of the value of all new major unit developments within a 10-year period, the 4 per cent could within a very short space of time escalate to 10 per cent. Secondly, unit developments of 10 or more units are subject to the mandatory inclusionary zone requirements under this bill, whereas the 2004 bill had a narrower scope of a minimum of 20 units.
Thus, whilst on its face the bill would impose a less onerous affordable housing requirement on developers than the previous bill, upon closer inspection, Dr Foskey’s bill would be more onerous than the previous version. The Assembly and the government did not support the previous version, and the government will not support the present bill either.
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