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The Greens have proposed a new way to win the party’s support for two governmental housing policies that are currently stalled in Parliament.
Monday, 18 November, marks the first day of the last two sitting Senate weeks of 2024, and the Labor party’s last chance of passing the legislation related to two of its major housing initiatives by the end of the year – or perhaps even before the next Australian federal election.
But the likelihood of getting those initiatives – the shared-equity home buying scheme called Help to Buy, as well as the tax alterations to spur foreign investment in build-to-rent – appears slim. The Coalition and the Greens are still indicating that they oppose the measures, though the latter have put forward a new proposal that party spokespeople say could broker a compromise.
While the Greens had previously asked for measures such as limiting rent increases and adjusting investor tax policies, like negative gearing and capital gains tax concessions, the party now says there is another way to garner its support.
The Greens want the government to commit funding to the 25,000 dwellings that were proposed in projects put forward for the first round of the Housing Australia Future Fund (HAFF), but that were not part of the projects initially greenlit.
In operation for just over 12 months, the HAFF provides a minimum of $500 million per year to finance affordable and social housing projects. In its first round, it committed to funding close to 14,000 dwellings. The unfunded projects were largely rejected on the argument that they did not provide good value for money, and it’s estimated that the cost to build them could run into the billions.
The Greens are asking for the government to stump up this cost, while the proposal has been met with immediate resistance from Housing Minister Clare O’Neil, and outright derision from some lobbyists.
“My request is simply that the Greens act ethically,” O’Neil told ABC News, calling on the party to negotiate “seriously”.
Meanwhile, the Property Council of Australia characterised the Greens’ proposal as “unserious”.
“The housing crisis is too serious for the Greens’ flippant ideas,” Property Council chief executive Mike Zorbas said.
“Now is the time for the Greens to stop blocking and get on board with an historic injection of new homes into the Australian market,” he added.
The Property Council has been a major supporter of the tax setting changes for the build-to-rent sector, and recently partnered with National Shelter and the Community Housing Industry Association to come up with a proposal for slight alterations to the bill that they hoped might appease all sides.
The organisations are calling for amendments to the bill that would:
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Adjust tax settings to encourage build-to-rent housing growth.
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Refine the 10 per cent affordable housing requirement within build-to-rent projects.
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Introduce measures to enhance security of tenure for renters.
The tax changes for build-to-rent projects are projected by independent modelling from EY to lead to the construction of roughly 100,000 new homes over the course of 10 years, including more than 10,500 rentals that would be classed as “affordable”.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Juliet Helmke
Based in Sydney, Juliet Helmke has a broad range of reporting and editorial experience across the areas of business, technology, entertainment and the arts. She was formerly Senior Editor at The New York Observer.
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