By Jenel Hunt
The Southern Downs Mayor, Councillor Vic Pennisi, has called for an Australia-wide enquiry on the issue of houses lying empty during the current housing crisis.
If the number of empty houses in the Southern Downs was an accurate reflection of what was happening throughout Australia, it could be a vital link in finding solutions to at least part of the housing shortage within the country, he indicated at an information session of the Southern Downs Regional Council on 25 January.
“We have about 2000 homes empty across the Southern Downs. If you multiply that out across Australia, it’s significant. I suggest it’s significant enough for a government enquiry,” he said.
Cr Pennisi’s comment came during a session where councillors could ask questions about a local housing action plan being prepared for possible adoption at the council’s February meeting.
A consultant was at the meeting and explained that the plan was to formalise agreed priority actions and establish long-term goals and outcomes in relation to the known housing situation in Queensland. If priorities were attached to council issues it would be quicker to get resources allocated at a State level, he said.
A mention was made that one of the reasons for empty homes could be that a family home was not calculated in the pension threshold but the minute people sold, they could be at the risk of losing their pension (or having it reduced).
But Cr Pennisi was not swayed.
“We can all speculate as to the reason. But it would be great if the government could say, ‘This is what we’ve found and this is what we can do’.”
SDRC CEO Dave Burges said the project was reflective of similar documents being prepared by Local Governments across the State.
“The Local Government Association of Queensland is preparing a local housing action plan and has suggested every council in Queensland do the same,” he said.
“The project officer contacted us last year and we have been working with them to develop this plan. In conjunction with this, we’re doing significant work to free up land.
“The next step would be the adoption by council in February, then my goal is for the Mayor to meet the relevant people in the State Government.”
Examples included land in Willi Street and Rosendahl Street.
Cr Stephen Tancred queried the limited area covered by the action plan in relation to land optimisation.
“In the [draft document’s] actions, you’ve listed five spots of land we’re looking at developing: they’re all in Warwick. I’m wondering if there’s anything for Stanthorpe,” he said.
He asked if some of the options that had previously been spoken about could be ‘fleshed out’ and if some of the issues covered in the new planning scheme could also be included, but it was considered too early to talk about those options.
One possibility for Stanthorpe land optimisation was the Drill Hall Park but it was State owned.
Cr Tancred reiterated the size of the problem for residential rentals in the Southern Downs.
“There have been 350 less bonds reported. Some have gone to B&Bs or rentals have been sold. So we’re going backwards. We really do have a crisis, losing 10 per cent of our rental properties over four years.”
It was pointed out some of the rental properties could simply have been sold to people to be used for their own residences. Council could also consider that some councils implemented an extra rate on rental properties.
When asked if the Southern Downs was at crisis judging by LGAQ data, Director for Planning and Environmental Services Scott Riley said, “There are some pretty strong media reports that regional Queensland is possibly one of the most unaffordable. That means our region is fairly and squarely in the grips of a social challenge.”
If the housing action plan is adopted in February, the next step will be to form a working group (including people external to the council) to continue the push for more housing in the region.
