Build more homes, faster

To date, 147 applications have been successful and will share in $207.1 million from the $350 million fund to deliver 9,427 new dwellings and lots, ranging from gentle-density developments to apartments, from Cairns to the Gold Coast. The remaining applications are being assessed and the successful ones are expected to be announced shortly.

We've set up a State-Facilitated Development team to streamline decisions and quickly resolve planning and infrastructure issues that delay new homes, including social and affordable homes. They will expedite approvals, prioritise affordable housing, promote infill development, and lead an Inclusionary Planning Pilot program.

This program is guided by principles of good design, sustainability, and alignment with state growth management instruments and policies like ShapingSEQ 2023. It provides a pathway for proposals that do not qualify for the Ministerial Infrastructure Designation but offer innovative and affordable housing solutions.

As at 24 September 2024, 2 proposals located in Robina and Wakerley have been declared SFD. A further 10 proposals have commenced the process to be declared and have been issued notices of proposed declaration.

If all proposals are declared, they collectively could provide up to 4,945 homes across a range of housing types, including terraces, townhouses, duplexes and apartments.

All proposals include at least a 15 per cent affordable housing component, with the average commitment being above 25 per cent.

In the first half of 2024, the SFD team received over 150 expressions of interest or inquiries to progress down the SFD pathway, incorporating a potential 30,000 dwellings across the state.

Led by the new State-Facilitated Development team, we are piloting inclusionary planning with incentives. We are doing this in consultation with industry and community to show how inclusionary zoning can be implemented successfully. These pilots will assist us to learn by doing and develop a policy response that works for Queensland.

More than half of the proposals that have been either declared SFD or have commenced the process to be declared are being considered as inclusionary planning projects.

We have reviewed our legislation to ensure it covers all the options available to meet Queensland’s housing needs and facilitates the growth and sustainability of affordable homes. We have updated planning legislation with a package of reforms through the Housing Availability and Affordability (Planning and Other Legislation) Amendment Act 2023 to simplify and expedite housing supply in the right locations when it’s urgently needed.

We're leading the nation and putting funding, resources and skills into evidence-based planning decisions. We’re the only state that has set statutory dwelling supply targets (including by dwelling type for each council area). These targets recognise the uniqueness of our communities and respond to growth in a sustainable and balanced way.

One example is the South East Queensland Regional Plan (ShapingSEQ 2023). To deliver on ShapingSEQ 2023, we’ve invested in a new implementation team focused on monitoring supply and providing independent advice on levers to pull (e.g. process, policy or market) to unblock supply.

A new governance framework will ensure the government regularly brings all parties together to keep us all accountable in our joint response to the housing challenge.

We're unlocking land across the state for development, as the result of a comprehensive audit of state government land and buildings for a mixture of social and private housing.

The state government, in partnership with Economic Development Queensland (EDQ), investigating suitable sites identified through the land audit to continue to build a pipeline of land for development to deliver diverse housing options. To support this, reforms were introduced through the Economic Development and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2024.

These sites have been assessed for their ability to deliver suitable housing outcomes, including social and affordable housing, to enable development in partnership with the private sector and community housing providers. As a result, EDQ is now progressing development-readiness activities on a number of priority sites across Queensland to bring forward housing development.

The state government declared Waraba, formerly known as Caboolture West, as Queensland’s newest Priority Development Area (PDA) on 2 August 2024, providing a clear pathway to deliver vital new housing and infrastructure. The Waraba PDA in the City of Moreton Bay includes almost 3,000 hectares of land and will deliver around 30,000 dwellings for an estimated 70,000 people. It’s also expected to provide opportunities for an estimated 17,000 local jobs in well-planned retail, industrial, and commercial activity centres.

We’ll also continue to acquire other privately owned sites to ensure the ongoing delivery of social and affordable housing outcomes to meet the needs of vulnerable Queenslanders.

While we’re unlocking more land supply, the Department of Housing, Local Government, Planning and Public Works has a strong pipeline of more than 500 existing parcels of department-owned land, which are programmed for construction or identified as having development potential for future housing projects.

Queensland’s Big Build will need a large and skilled workforce. This will increase demand for skilled labour, which is required to support the development of Queensland infrastructure, including the  residential building sector. To support the further development of a skilled and ready construction workforce, we’re investing more to train and secure a workforce to deliver more homes faster.

The new Queensland Construction Workforce Fund, which is informed by industry and stakeholder consultation, is supporting three initiatives to increase the number of construction apprentices and skilled workers, and address barriers to workforce participation.

The Free Tools for First Years program provides a one-off cash rebate of up to $1,000 for first-year apprentices working in the housing industry who purchase industry-relevant tools. This will provide real cost-of-living relief for up to 4,000 new apprentices in trades including construction, plumbing, engineering, and electrical. The Fund will remain open until it is expended.

The Housing Construction Traineeship Fund is supporting the participation of under-represented cohorts in the construction sector through additional Work Skills Traineeships projects focused on residential and social housing. Successful projects were announced on 10 September 2024, with the Fund set to support six social housing projects to create 113 jobs. Trainees will  undertake full-time, paid work for up to six months on these projects.

Free Construction Apprenticeships for Over 25s will support at least 2,250 adults, — including career-changers and people returning to the workforce — into construction apprenticeships. The program covers the cost of eligible construction-related apprenticeships and study  at TAFE Queensland or CQUniversity commencing between 1 July 2024 and 30 June 2026.

The $12.5 million Scheme Supply Fund helps plan for housing supply at the grassroots, providing financial assistance to local governments for key planning scheme improvements to meet their communities’ housing needs.

The fund offers targeted, needs-based funding to assist local governments across Queensland to increase and diversify the supply of housing to meet the changing and growing needs of their communities.

The fund is being delivered through two pathways:

• Pathway 1 is a non-competitive allocation to fund western and regional local governments to implement actions from their local housing, planning scheme amendments or facilitating housing outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander councils.
• Pathway 2 is a competitive process open to all local governments that demonstrate how their project can deliver more diverse, well-located housing.

Applications for Pathway 1 are now open. The Pathway 2 expressions of interest (EOI) process has closed, and the department is reviewing the EOI submissions.

Local governments successful through the EOI process will be invited to make Pathway 2 applications and will be advised when the detailed application stage opens.

The Queensland Government is exploring different mechanisms to enable a buyer to purchase a home at an affordable rate. We will explore ‘affordable in perpetuity’ types of mechanisms as part of state-facilitated developments.

We're bringing forward an Infill Development Strategy to incentivise medium-scale, mixed-tenure housing projects in growth areas across Queensland. The strategy will promote infill development and gentle density through land consolidation, planning and infrastructure.

We'll conduct analysis and consultation to introduce a registration scheme for short-term rental properties like Airbnb. We'll continue to monitor their impact on the broader supply of long-term rentals and whether more interventions are needed. We won’t stand in the way of councils making short-term rental policies that suit the needs of their communities.