Noosa MP Sandy Bolton
Affordable housing as most know, is an issue I have spoken/written about and raised in Parliament many times over the years including in these columns and had hoped all that needed to be said had been. However, with the Queensland Government announcing a Housing Summit for October, and amendments regarding ‘granny flats’, there is plenty to share, as well ask!
This summit is well overdue and like so many others, I scratch my head as I cannot understand why it has taken this long, given the advocacies not only from myself going back multiple years, but also other MPs and the many working within the realm of ‘housing’. These stakeholders, who hopefully will be at the Summit, have been advocating for years on accommodation issues as well how to resolve, and yet here we are. This should concern us all, as if it takes that long to convene a summit, how long will it take for any actions to be realised? This includes an audit of unused state land which we have requested for 3 years now, especially considering the Queensland Housing Strategy 2017-2020 action plan noted that its very first action was to identify and develop vacant and under-utilised government land.
For housing, like other issues, the ‘devil is in the detail’, and you can only get to that detail through questions! Hence seeking clarification from the Premier on who will be at the Summit and the agenda, so all stakeholders who should be there are invited to ensure items that have been submitted previously, including solutions, are included.
Unfortunately, Noosa appeared to be impacted by the housing crisis much earlier than other regions. ‘Fortunately’, this gave us a ‘head start’ in resolving, with our formation of the Housing Action Group in 2020, followed by Noosa Council’s Housing Needs Assessment, then their draft Housing Strategy which included community consultation, and an ongoing Housing Roundtable. As posted in Noosa 360 on my website, we have had several really good outcomes from the collective efforts over the last 2 years, with private/public development applications already submitted, an announcement shortly on another site purchase, and a host of initiatives such as one we funded from our office Seeds for Change grants regarding accommodation sharing. With State planners currently working with Council on options such as upzoning existing state-owned properties, we have appreciated the efforts of all who have sat at our ‘tables’. They have worked with us to pursue all possible options for our electorate (and sometimes beyond!) including emergency accommodations, Help to Home program, and the repurposing/reconfiguring of houses into micro units as examples. Of special mention is the Department of Housing, who ensured anybody coming to our office homeless, even in the worst of the crisis, was always offered a bed and never forced to sleep in a car or tent. Sadly, offers are not always accepted, however that is for another discussion.
The recent announcement after our advocacies going back some 5 years that secondary dwellings or ‘granny flats’ can soon be rented to those other than ‘family’ over the next three years is already being celebrated, however again, why has this taken so long? Understandably when State offered for Noosa to ‘trial’ this via a Temporary Planning Instrument in 2021 there may have been concerns that this would create even more STAs instead of permanent rentals, hence why it was not implemented. However as we know, any new builds can be registered for long term, and any existing I have no doubt have been used for permanents for many years. For anyone concerned that this will ‘blow’ the planning scheme up with thousands being built, be assured that Council could identify that very quickly and address with State, and there is a following review to ensure there are no unintended consequences.
As you can see, idleness has not been part of Noosa’s DNA on this crisis, and we have made substantial progress. However, we now need concrete, fast and decisive action by all levels of government, as we have just seen with the ‘granny flat’ amendment, on the remaining issues we are confronted with, including shortage of builders and supply of materials that will hold up both government and private projects. As well, an immediate continuation or alternative to the Federal Government National Rental Affordability Scheme (NRAS) which was introduced in 2008 to provide rentals at least 20 percent below market rates and offered incentives to homeowners. Without such a program, further pressure will be placed on our already overburdened social housing system.
There have been many initiatives, incentives and disincentives, options and partnerships discussed and actioned within our own meetings, and no doubt they will be raised at the Summit. Many of these you are familiar with, such as consideration for incentivising pensioners to downsize by giving them a full tax break on the stamp duty when selling their house, even if only for a limited time, and a proper analysis on short stay accommodation and consideration of how any impacts throughout Queensland can be mitigated. Others you may not be, such as building codes that those who specialise in sustainable design and construction say are way behind the times and add to the cost of builds!
Meeting discussions also included concerns around the perception of ‘affordable housing’ and how you achieve it! One fallacy we tackled was that an increase in land released for building equates to greater affordability. Wrong. As you have seen in high demand areas such as our electorate, this is incorrect, as houses on new land are quickly bid up to unaffordable levels, hence why ‘community managed’ housing is a key strategy for our low-income workforce to retain affordability. As a state and country, we are well below comparable countries in community housing. For example, at 17% is the United Kingdom, versus 2.9% in Australia. With existing housing trusts and investment by superannuation funds, we need a realistic plan from this Summit, and sustained commitment from both Federal and State governments to reach comparable percentages, with local planning law considerations to incorporate options that ensure communities can customise for their needs, with designs considerate of each other’s amenity. The bottom line is we need to ensure that our very own can continue to call Noosa home as their circumstances change, including aging, and we have seen some incredible projects that do just that!
Another fallacy or misunderstanding is the perception of ‘who’ lives in community or affordable housing. It’s not, as some online and off have labelled as ‘those’ people, it is ‘our’ people – fathers, sisters, loved ones. Our carers, nurses, teachers and lifesavers. Our fabulous volunteers, those who make our day in a café…the list goes on. ‘Not In My Backyard’ (NIMBY, or NYMBYISM!) is an attitude, not a fact, and should be ‘adjusted’ for these efforts on behalf of much-loved members of our community.
When we started this housing journey, we knew there needed to be short, medium and long-term solutions. Whilst we have dealt with the emergency period, and have longer-term solutions very much underway, we have the imminent ‘now’, the next couple of years, in which we still need to house our workers and matriarchs and patriarchs.
From back when I was a Councillor, and still very much now, is a need for a modern version of ‘Bougainvillea Gardens’ (Big4), that is home to a combination of permanents (over 50’s) and short-term accommodation via transportable and caravans. How many times we could have used that over the last 2 years! Frustrating? Yes! Similarly frustrating, has been efforts to use a site of many cleared hectares for the last 3 years that has sat unused in a close neighbouring electorate with infrastructure to support transportables.
Despite the success of the many of our initiatives, and callouts for residents to headlease a room or a whole house, for landlords to opt for permanent rental versus short term or utilise ‘adopt a worker’ strategies- the reality still is that we need housing for our workers NOW. We are still in a staffing crisis, born from the housing crisis, that is now impacting our businesses and local economy. That is a whole other column, however, of mention are the incredible efforts of many of our organisations and businesses to improve housing for workers in Noosa, including Noosa Care and their untiring efforts to secure staff, now participating in the Pacific Australia Labour Mobility (PALM) system which includes accommodation for these workers.
Back to the Housing Summit. It is wise not to see it as a panacea, as the outcome may be ideas that have already been submitted, are well known and not ‘instant’, including those that will take a large amount of funds to fast track, attempting to fix the shortfalls of roughly 50 years of under investment in social and community housing. And as to those granny flats? It is not an instant relief either, as any in our communities are already rented out, and any new builds would be months away.
What I hope does come out of the Summit ‘must haves’, is a recommendation for an independent inquiry as to why all levels of government failed to make adequate provision to avoid such a crisis, took so long to respond to all our pleas, and what must be put in place to avoid a repeat in the future.
So, until a magical urgent ‘solution’ emerges from the Summit, we ask landlords to continue to consider offering properties for permanent rental to our workers whether through the private market or community housing providers, for residents to think of ‘sharing’, those who have been waiting to build a ‘granny flat’ to get on and do so, for permanents, not STAS. And for everyone to continue supporting all efforts as we work our way through the coming months. For anyone needing contact numbers for housing assistance, or to sublet a room or house through a housing provider, please go to www.sandybolton.com/keycontacts/ or call our office on 53193100
See you shortly with some of the news I couldn’t yet share!
Sandy
