The ACT government should release more land for housing in the territory and do more to ensure affordable housing is available in the capital, a Legislative Assembly committee believes.
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The standing committee on public accounts also recommended an independent external review be commissioned of the government's indicative land release program, and also believes the program should be debated in the Assembly each year.
The government should also provide more detail on the kinds of blocks it intends to release by issuing a breakdown of housing type in the land release program, the tripartisan committee said in a report released on Wednesday.
And the Assembly should be provided with an analysis of the number and nature of registrants in recent land ballots, the committee said. The ballots have attracted thousands of entrants for a few hundred blocks of land.
But the inquiry report did not outline where the government should release additional land for housing and development or re-establish an inventory of serviced land.
The territory government should also make it harder for people to bank and speculate on land and advocate for Commonwealth tax reform to improve housing affordability, the committee said.
Adjustments to the territory tax system should also be made to support affordable housing, the committee said, without providing specific areas for the government to change.
The committee's inquiry had been prompted by a 2020 Auditor-General's report, which made seven recommendations for improvements to the ACT government's land release program, including making improvements to the residential supply and demand model and clearer reporting.
The committee recommended the government implement all of the audit report's recommendations.
"The committee is of the view that an external view of the [indicative land release prorgram] take place, to ensure that building quality is improved, and the local building industry and economy is supported," the committee's report said.
The government needs to clearly outline its social and affordable housing targets, so the increase to the number of dwellings can be measured and publicly reported each year, the committee said. The government must also ensure requirements for 15 per cent social and affordable housing in new land release areas are "more stringently enforced".
"The committee is of the view that the ACT government should not mandate the specific number of bedrooms an affordable housing dwelling must have, to ensure that there is a greater diversity of affordable housing dwellings which meet market demand," the committee said.
Master Builders ACT had told the inquiry a shortage of residential land in the territory made it hard for builders to plan for the future and limited Canberra's access to new public and affordable housing.
An extra 30,000 dwelling sites will be added to Canberra over the next five years in a program of "gentle urbanism" designed to meet housing demand in a city that has expanded faster than expected.
The ACT government will increase the number of dwelling sites it will release for sale in its land-release program, with more than 70 per cent to be in multi-unit developments.
Over five years, the government will release 16,417 dwellings with the private sector expected to release the remaining number of dwellings to the market in that time.
MORE A.C.T. POLITICS NEWS:
The Canberra Liberals have repeatedly called on the ACT government to release more land for detached housing, but the government remains committed to its urban infill policy.
The cost of preparing a new dwelling in a greenfield suburb in Canberra could be about eight times higher than the price of a new dwelling in an urban infill area.
A study presented to the ACT government in February 2019 said the total cost for a development in the new suburb of Whitlam was $68,600 a dwelling, while a new dwelling along Athllon Drive would cost the government just $8500.
The study said there were generally cost savings from urban consolidation, which reduce the amount governments need to spend to house more people over time.
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Jasper Lindell
Jasper Lindell joined The Canberra Times in 2018. He is a Legislative Assembly reporter, covering ACT politics and government. He also writes about development, transport, heritage, local history, literature and the arts, as well as contributing to the Times' Panorama magazine. He was previously a Sunday Canberra Times reporter.
Jasper Lindell joined The Canberra Times in 2018. He is a Legislative Assembly reporter, covering ACT politics and government. He also writes about development, transport, heritage, local history, literature and the arts, as well as contributing to the Times' Panorama magazine. He was previously a Sunday Canberra Times reporter.
