Social housing push
SOCIAL housing is tipped to be the cornerstone of the 2022-23 state budget, with regional economist Colin Dwyer saying it was time for the government to step up for people on the social housing wait list.
Treasurer Cameron Dick announced on Monday the government would deliver 1200 new social and affordable homes with a partnership between the Brisbane Housing Company and the Queensland Investment Corporation.
It is unlikely this announcement will impact regional
Queensland. However, it builds on the state’s investment in social housing in the last budget.
Mr Dwyer said in 2021-22 there was “inconsistent investment” in regional portfolios, with the “most obvious failure” in public housing.
“In 2021, Townsville Region Public Housing portfolio received just $32m with an undisclosed number of new dwellings,” he said.
“With a continuing extremely tight residential vacancy rate, over 2000 local people on the public housing waiting list and insufficient new stock, this was obviously not enough.”
Mr Dwyer said housing was likely to remain a key focus, with “unusual” solutions like vacant home resumption and short-term accommodation taxes expected to emerge.
He said it was necessary to know the cause of the crisis, how many homes were needed and a solution in the long and short term.
Mr Dwyer said it was possible for the state to pull levers to manage and moderate the rental home crisis.
Townsville Enterprise has also been advocating for more affordable housing, with the accommodation availability putting a dampener on attracting skills to the region.
CEO Claudia BrummeSmith said the region also needed investment in longterm projects like CopperString 2.0, Hells Gates Dam and the Lansdown Eco-industrial Precinct.
She said these projects would help ensure North Queensland’s future.
“Our health and education sectors require urgent funding to unlock projects like Tropiq, which will cement our region as a global leader in tropical knowledge and tropical health, generating thousands of neweconomy jobs and producing billions of dollars’ worth of economic activity over the next decade,” Ms BrummeSmith said.
“We believe this budget needs to pay dividends to the regions that over the past two years have kept this state succeeding.
“There are increases to mining royalties coming into play, and the concern for us is that we’re being performance punished for our efforts keeping Queensland moving over the last two and half years.”