New laws to help deliver more homes for Queenslanders, faster

•  New laws to support the delivery of more homes faster
• Laws provide Economic Development Queensland with new tools to deliver diverse social and affordable housing for our rapidly growing state
• Will help deliver 1,300 additional homes – increasing the forecast to 3,700
• Approve a further 15,000 homes in PDAs – double what is forecast without these changes – making a total of 29,000

Queensland Parliament has passed legislation to support the Miles Government’s $3.1 billion Homes for Queenslanders plan, to help ensure every Queenslander has a safe, secure, and affordable place to call home.  

Since this legislation was first introduced in late March, around 38,000 more people have moved to Queensland, and the population is expected to grow by one million over the next 10 years.

This is evidence of our economic strength and our enviable lifestyle. But that growth is placing challenges on housing availability and affordability. 

The Miles Government is using every lever at its disposal to provide solutions. These laws pull one of those levers, strengthening the government’s planning and development agency Economic Development Queensland (EDQ) to deliver more homes faster.

This builds upon our Homes for Queenslanders plan by giving EDQ powers and abilities to deliver much-needed fast-tracked housing. 

Social and affordable housing will be incorporated into EDQ’s main purpose, and this will include the ability to enter agreements with community housing providers. 

These laws will help meet the Homes for Queenslanderstarget of 1 million new homes by 2046 and the National Housing Accord target of 1.2 million new homes across Australia by 2029.

The Newman-Crisafulli Government gutted EDQ’s predecessor the Urban Land Development Authority, and they cut social housing, hurting vulnerable Queenslanders. 

Quotes attributable to Minister for State Development and Infrastructure, Grace Grace:

“These new laws directly support two of the pillars in our Homes for Queenslanders plan – to build more homes faster, and to boost our social housing Big Build.

“We need more houses quickly, and we need them built in a way that delivers thriving and economically prosperous communities.  

“The challenges are complex, and there’s no one single simple solution: we need to use every lever at our disposal. 

“Our population is growing, we need more diverse and affordable housing, and we need it as soon as possible: these laws will provide EDQ with a greater suite of tools tohelp us do just that.” 

Quotes attributable to the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Planning Meaghan Scanlon:

“We want our public developer to act in the public interest – and that’s to deliver more Homes for Queenslanders.

“The LNP and David Crisafulli gutted the powers of EDQ’s predecessor, restricting housing supply today.

“This legislation gives our public developer a clear mission: make social and affordable homes a main priority.

“EDQ’s work will help us to deliver one million more Homes for Queenslanders.”

Quotes attributable to Planning Institute of Australia Queensland President, Sean Cullen

“PIA advocated for changes to EDQ to restore and strengthen their remit in the planning and delivery of affordable and diverse housing."

"PIA was pleased to support those changes in the Bill which enable EDQ to work more collaboratively with local governments, developers, community housing providers, other state agencies, and the community to deliver more diverse and affordable well-located homes in Queensland."

"In addition to the Bill's changes, PIA believes EDQ could utilise its developer function to bring-forward targeted affordable and diverse housing projects, outside of PDAs, where in accordance with the intent of the local planning instrument and where the private market is yet to invest and act.”

Quotes attributable to QShelter Executive Director, Fiona Caniglia

“We have recommended the need for greater capacity and speed to deliver housing supply through appropriately structured state agencies such as EDQ with the remit to deliver housing and to succeed through to implementation as quickly as possible. 

“The changes are welcome by Q Shelter because they seek to improve EDQ’s capacity to deliver on housing supply and diversity which is consistent with our overall advice leading up to and since the Queensland Housing Summit in 2022.

“The changes allow EDQ to enter into agreements with third parties like Community Housing Providers (CHPs), to deliver social and affordable housing projects. We welcome this as a pathway for CHPs as they work to scale up their operations in Queensland and achieve multiple growth projects across the State.”

Quotes attributable to Urban Development Institute of Australia Queensland Chief Executive Officer, Kirsty Chessher-Brown

“The UDIA maintains its strong support for an efficient, flexible, and agile Economic Development Queensland that is focussed on measures to bring housing supply to market in an expeditious manner. 

“The Institute supports measures that allow EDQ to reinvigorate its focus on housing affordability and the importance of an efficient approval process, up-front planning, and infrastructure certainty bring to the end cost of housing produced.”

Further information:

Read more about the legislation at: https://www.statedevelopment.qld.gov.au/economic-development-qld/about-edq/legislation

ENDS

Media contact: Kim Sweetman – 0457 600 237