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The House has approved the amendments to the government’s shared equity scheme and rubber stamped the bill.
The bill to allow for the implementation of one of the Labor party’s hallmark housing policies, the Help to Buy Scheme, officially passed Parliament on Wednesday, 27 November.
The Senate waved the bill through on Tuesday, ending a monthslong standoff that saw the Greens and Coalition form an unlikely front against the housing scheme – the Coalition disapproving of the scheme outright, the Greens looking for concessions in exchange for the party’s support.
But earlier in the week, after all of the Greens’ bargaining chips were ultimately rejected by the government, the minor party flipped and signalled that its members were prepared to support the scheme after all.
Greens leader Adam Bandt said the party had “pushed as hard as it could” to extract more funding for affordable housing, changes to negative gearing and other housing promises from the government in exchange for supporting the shared equity policy.
The scheme’s passage will come as welcome news to industry bodies that had pushed for its implementation, such as the Real Estate Institute of Australia, the Property Council, the Housing Industry Association, and National Shelter.
But with housing continuing to garner national focus for increasing unaffordability, a number of commentators are stressing that while the scheme is welcome, there is much more still to be done.
Property Council chief executive Mike Zorbas commended the passage of the bill, while pushing the government to look at other levers it can pull.
“We need to ensure that home loans are not just for the wealthy, and that we are giving first home buyers a realistic chance at accessing credit for housing. Removing blockers to home ownership is important and one of the biggest challenges, alongside access to finance, is saving up for a home deposit,” Zorbas said.
He also stressed the need for the government to focus its efforts on supply, calling it “the most important step in making housing more affordable”.
“Unlocking state planning systems and setting taxation levels to create more at-market, more affordable housing, more rentals, more retirement villages and more student accommodation must be a national effort.”
Housing industry advocates are now waiting to see if the government will be able to bring its bill to incentivise build-to-rent projects to a Senate vote before the last sitting days of the year.
That scheme’s future appeared uncertain, until the Greens also indicated it would throw the party’s support behind the initiative earlier in the week.
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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