The Queensland Government will limit rent increases to once a year in a move designed to balance the rights and interests of Queenslanders who rent, and property owners, to sustain healthy rental supply.
Reducing the frequency of increases from six months to 12 months is also consistent with most other jurisdictions throughout the country, Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said.
“The great majority of landlords do the right thing and look after their tenants – but for those who do not, this is a wake up call,“ Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said.
It was one of several options for housing policy reform discussed at a Housing Roundtable in Brisbane this week.
The government also announced an additional $28 million to continue the Immediate Housing Response Package for another year, providing more than 600 emergency hotel accommodation places, rental and bond support payments and a further $3.9 million to food relief services.
That includes $3.3 million forthe provision of emergency relief supports, including vouchers, food parcels and contributions to payments such as electricity bills and $630,000 for SecondBite and OzHarvest to increase the food relief service.
Communities and Housing Minister Leeanne Enoch said the government had completed 816 new social housing builds since July 2021 with a further 588 under construction
She said they were on track to start work on 13,000 social housing builds by 2027 and were investing $166.3 million in specialist homelessness services in 2022-23.
Additional housing announcements made this week included $600,000 to work with the Local Government Association of Queensland to develop 38 Local Housing Action Plans with local governments, land tax concessions for Build to Rent developments that provide a minimum affordable housing component and the launch of an Opportunities Portal for proposals that have the potential to deliver new housing stock.
