Industry needs to deliver housing
A leading construction entrepreneur says governments need to engage the private sector and stop adding to building costs if they are to have any hope of meeting ambitious housing targets.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has set a five-year target of building 1.2 million new homes in five years, while Queensland
Premier Steven Miles on February 5 announced a plan to build 53,500 social homes by 2046. Affordable housing advocate Tamika Smith said the reality was housing approvals were continuing to decline.
“With the implementation of the national construction code Master Builders reported the changes will add $30,000 on average to every new build,” Ms Smith said. “The industrial relations laws that are being passed nationally will increase the labour rates from on average $45 to $60 an hour, which will add approximately $20,000 to the cost of constructing a one-bed. If you want to increase the wages, that’s fine, but at least be transparent to ensure the public knows who’s paying for it, because it’s them, and it makes buying a new home that much further out of their reach.”
Ms Smith, who spearheaded efforts to build a new home for murdered Gold Coast mum Kelly Wilkinson’s children, said governments needed to incentivise the private sector to deliver housing rather than trying to do it themselves.
“You have a sector there that can reach the scale. Why are you not incentivising them?” Ms Smith said. “Governments should be enablers, not builders and developers.”
Mr Miles said his government’s plan was “the most ambitious social housing program in recent history”.