Page 1543 - Week 05 - Wednesday, 4 May 2016
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video
The AHURI Supply shortages and affordability outcomes in the private rental sector: short and longer term trends report released in June 2015 shows that of the first quintile private renter households—households with incomes of $30,000 a year or less, which would include all single people and single parents with one child who were solely reliant on pensions and benefits—63 per cent of Canberrans were paying severely unaffordable rent. This is in comparison to 31 per cent for the same category of people living in Melbourne and is the second highest percentage after inner Sydney. We often hear about the unaffordability of Melbourne and Sydney, but Canberra—Canberra—is right up there with them. It is deeply concerning.
The affordability of housing in Canberra is directly related to the rate, timeliness and manner of release of development-ready land by the ACT government. For example, in December 2015 land was sold in the new suburb of Moncrieff. The demand for this land was very high. Reportedly every block was sold within three minutes of the sale opening—with three minutes for the blocks to sell out. That is just one example of high demand for development-ready land in the ACT.
In a Canberra Times article published on 26 May 2015, Khalid Ahmed, deputy under treasurer in the ACT from 2001 until 2013, was reported as saying:
… the government could solve the crisis in housing affordability as simply as releasing a steady supply of land, but is not even meeting its own targets.
Let me give another quote from Khalid Ahmed:
Affordability shouldn’t be as big a problem as it is in Canberra because we have absolute control over the land supply … If you have got the policy settings right, the rest will take care of itself. If you supply enough the prices will stabilise.
That is right: affordability should not be as big a problem as it is in Canberra because the government has absolute control over the most important policy levers. The government, their policy, is contributing towards the unaffordability of land in the ACT. That is not me saying this. This was someone who was a former under treasurer of the ACT for 12 years.
In March 2016 the Urban Development Institute of Australia released their Submission on Innovative Funding Models for Affordable Housing in response to the issues paper released by the Affordable Housing Working Group of the Council on Federal Financial Relations. In their submission, the UDIA noted:
One of the major difficulties Community Housing Providers … face is in obtaining finance to purchase land upon which to build affordable housing. In purchasing land, they are frequently in competition for “good” sites (those with high access to services, jobs and transport) with fully commercial operators.
The ACT government could, for example, guarantee loans to the community housing provider sector. The submission went on:
This would have the effect of making money cheaper for CHPs and increase their ability to leverage their holdings into more affordable housing.
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video