AS part of the Victoria’s Housing Statement, the state government has committed to delivering 800,000 Victorian homes through an Affordability Partnership with the housing industry.
Victoria’s Housing Statement – The Decade Ahead 2024-2034, has set the new 10-year target of 80,000 new homes each year. Or a total of 648,000 new homes in metropolitan Melbourne and 152,000 in regional and rural Victoria.
As the fastest growing state in Australia, Victoria’s population is forecast to hit 10.3 million by 2051, meaning the state needs to see an additional 2.24 million homes in that time, including a target of 425,500 in regional and rural areas.
“The status quo is not an option, and admiring the problem will only make it worse. Unless we take bold and decisive action now, Victorians will be paying the price for generations to come,” said Daniel Andrews, premier.
“Whether you’re buying your first place, upsizing or downsizing as life changes, or renting – the work we’re doing will mean there’ll be a place you can afford, and that you can call home.”
On Wednesday, the government signed an Affordability Partnership alongside the Property Council of Australia, Master Builders Victoria, the Urban Development Institute of Australia, the Housing Industry Association and Super Housing Partnerships.
With the work being facilitated by the Housing Statement will support 16,000 jobs across Victoria.
Victoria saw a 5.3% increase in the use of homelessness services between December and March, according to Homelessness Australia.
While the latest data from Council to Homeless Persons revealed Victoria has the lowest social housing stock in the country by a significant margin.
The statement has also outlined the country-first 7.5% The Short Stay Levy, which will be introduced on short stay accommodation platforms.
The levy will be based on the short-stay accommodation platforms’ revenue, with the revenue raised from the levy to go to Homes Victoria, supporting their work building and maintaining social and affordable housing across the state and 25% of funds to be invested in regional Victoria.
The levy will also mean other local council charges on short-stay accommodation will be removed.
“In Victoria, there are more than 36,000 short stay accommodation places – with almost half of these in regional Victoria. More than 29,000 of those places are entire homes,” read the statement.
“These are places that cannot be used for longer-term accommodation or rented out on fixed term agreements – so it makes sense that they should provide some benefit toward the places that can.”
The confirmation of the controversial levy is already causing a stir in the sector with Pitcher Partners Melbourne damning the move as not incentivising local and international capital to flow into the property development sector.
“It’s a short-term hit that makes a night in an Airbnb or other short-stay accommodation more expensive, and may deliver a few extra long-term rentals but it won’t solve the long-term rental problem,” said Craig Whatman, partner at Pitcher Partners Melbourne,
“There is still no genuine incentive for people to put their properties into the long-term rental market and keep them there. A better approach would be to offer a land tax discount if the dwelling is leased or is available for rent for a certain period each year. The government should consider re-introducing the off-the-plan stamp duty concession for investment properties as well as revamping the foreign buyer’s surcharge.”
While unsurprisingly, Eacham Curry, senior director, government & corporate Affairs at Stayz wasn’t on the same page as the government ahead of the statement.
“Imposing a consumer-facing levy on short-term stays that could be as high as 7.5 percent does not represent the best or most equitable way to address concerns around the impact of Short-Term Accommodation and nor should the Short-Term Accommodation sector be painted as the cause of or solution to the housing crisis Victoria is facing,” said Curry.
The Housing Statement is divided into five key areas to address housing supply:
- Good decisions, made faster: reforming Victoria’s planning system, clearing the backlog of planning permits, giving builders, buyers and renovators certainty about how long approvals will take – and a clear pathway to resolve issues quickly if those timeframes aren’t met
- Cheaper housing, closer to where you work: unlocking new spaces to stop urban sprawl, building more homes closer to where people have the transport, roads, hospitals and schools they need and delivering vital, basic community infrastructure
- Protecting renters’ rights: closing loopholes that drive up the cost of living for renters, giving tenants more certainty over their leases, living standards and finances, and resolving disputes faster to keep them out of VCAT
- More social housing: rapidly accelerating the rollout of social and affordable homes across Victoria and launching Australia’s biggest urban renewal project across Melbourne’s 44 high-rise social housing towers
- A long-term housing plan: delivering a long-term plan to guide how our state grows in the decades ahead, and reviewing the Planning and Environment Act 1987 to build a planning system that works with Victorians – not against them.
The government’s move to cut the red tape and speed up Victoria’s planning has been particularly welcomed by industry bodies.
“If this ambitious plan from the Victorian Government puts an end to retirement operators waiting up to five years for development applications to be approved, then this is great news for industry,” said Daniel Gannon executive director at The Retirement Living Council.
“For too long, planning systems have held up supply and unnecessarily driven up costs for developers through extensive delays.”
“Premier Andrews’ Housing Statement is a template for states like NSW. It shows how to go delivering the bold planning reform needed so the private sector property development and construction companies can deliver on the National Housing Accord targets,” said Tom Forrest, CEO at Urban Taskforce.
“Victoria has set a high bar when it comes to planning reform. NSW needs to follow its lead and ensure Australia’s two largest states are serious about addressing the housing supply crisis.”
