STEVE AUSTIN:
The Federal Government has tipped more money into the social housing bucket for Queensland. $398 million from the Social Housing Accelerator. Julie Collins is the Federal Minister for Housing, Homelessness and Small Business. Julie Collins, thanks for joining me on ABC Radio Brisbane. What is a Social Housing Accelerator, please?
JULIE COLLINS:
Thanks, Steve, and good afternoon to your listeners. The Social Housing Accelerator is a $2 billion fund. It's a new fund that the Federal Government created to build more social housing across Australia while we get on and wait for the returns from the Housing Australia Future Fund. What we want to do is partner with states and territories to get as many homes on the ground as quickly as we can. So, this $2 billion fund – Queensland’s share is $398 million. The Queensland State Government now has that money and what they are saying is that they will deliver another 600 social homes with that funding in Brisbane and right across the state of Queensland. So, we're really pleased that it's such good value for money in terms of more Queenslanders that will be housed in that 600 homes.
AUSTIN:
How many homes will be built with that money? How many – so, 600 homes, 600 million.
COLLINS:
So, it's $398 million and 600 homes.
AUSTIN:
600 homes. And when will you be able to hand the keys to someone and say, here's your home?
COLLINS:
Well, obviously, the Queensland Government are moving as quickly as they can to deliver those. What we've said to the states and territories, including the Queensland Government, is that they need to have spent the money or fully contracted all the money before the 30th of June, 2025. So, they need to get those homes on the ground as quickly as they can. And having spoken to the Queensland State Housing Minister Meaghan Scanlon, she's very keen to get these homes underway as quickly as they can. And they'll be looking at a whole range of methods to do that, from prefabricated factories to house and land packages to all sorts of dwellings that they can get on the ground as quickly as they can.
AUSTIN:
Who builds them?
COLLINS:
Well, obviously, there will be some prefab through QBuild and other companies in Queensland. Obviously, we know that talking to the construction sector, that they expect they'll have more capacity in the latter part of this year and early next year. So, we're hoping to meet that with more social and affordable homes right across the country.
AUSTIN:
My guest is the Federal Housing Minister. Julie Collins is her name. She's the Federal Minister for Housing, Homelessness and Small Business. Where are they going to be built?
COLLINS:
Well, there'll be some in Brisbane and the Greater Brisbane area, and then they'll be right across the state from Cape York all the way down to Gold Coast. So, they'll be right across Queensland where those Queenslanders need the most in those areas. This is obviously just one part of what the Federal Government is doing. We’ll make sure that Queensland gets its fair share of the returns from the $10 billion Housing Australia Future Fund. We also have announced that we'll put in an additional $1 billion into Housing Australia this financial year. We also, of course, have the 10,000 affordable homes through the National Housing Accord. So, we are investing in Queensland, and right across the country. But as you sort of indicated, Steve, we do need to make sure that we do this in a way where we're picking up as much capacity in the sector as quickly as we can, but in a way that we're not adding to construction costs.
AUSTIN:
What's the difference between low cost housing and social housing, or community housing and social housing? What is social housing? Because in my mind, social housing is every house.
COLLINS:
So, social housing is public or community housing. And then we have affordable housing, and then there's general housing. So, the affordable and social housing are rental houses. So a lot of the social housing will be done by community housing providers, and the public housing by state governments. And then, of course, you have affordable housing, which is also often done by community housing providers and some of the institutional investors we're hoping to get into that market, too – things like superannuation funds.
AUSTIN:
All right. Now, while you put all this public money into this, all the predictions are that housing pressure and homelessness is going to get worse. It's going to increase. And let me ask you about immigration. The REA Group's economist Anne Flaherty today said that our housing crisis is, and I'm quoting her, only going to get worse as demand from strong immigration continues to far outrun housing construction in Australia. Over the last twelve months, Australia, our population increased by 563,000 people. Is the Federal Government going to do anything about that?
COLLINS:
Well, we obviously want to make sure that we build more homes. We know that the answer to the-
AUSTIN:
They won't be enough. They won't be enough, will it, Minister? It won't be enough.
COLLINS:
Well, we're obviously also working with states and territories to incentivise buildings of all types. And states and territories are looking at what planning, development and land use changes they can make to get more homes on the ground more quickly-
AUSTIN:
But you can tackle immigration immediately. You can tackle the high immigration numbers immediately.
COLLINS:
This housing supply issue has been around from before COVID. I mean, when you look at the OECD number of houses per 1000 people, Australia has been way behind the eight ball for some time, so we've got a lot of catching up to do. We can't turn this around quickly, in terms of the housing challenges. We have said obviously that we are reviewing some of the immigration settings and particularly some of the visas, and that is occurring. But what we need to do is we need to add to supply. The answer to the housing challenges in Australia that have been there for a long time is supply and it's not an easy thing to turn around, but we're doing everything we can working with other tiers of government with the construction sector to turn it around as quickly as we can.
AUSTIN:
Do you accept that the biggest pressure on housing and homelessness in Australia, including rents, is actually very high immigration into Australia?
COLLINS:
What we know is that this has been a problem for a long time. This has been a problem since-
AUSTIN:
But you’re the government now. You can fix it now, Minister.
COLLINS:
Well, as I've said, we have indicated that we are looking at and reviewing the current immigration system because it's not fit for purpose. What we've had in Australia for a long time is an uncapped system. What we know is, post-pandemic, is that immigration is actually lower today than it would have been and what was predicted under the previous government. And this issue has been around for a very long time with there not being enough homes for Australians and we need to get to work on building more homes. And that's what my focus as Housing Minister is on.
AUSTIN:
600 houses at a cost of $398 million. One of my listeners, Bruce from Petrie, says he calculates that to be about $600,000 each house to build. Is that expensive? $663,000 per home for social housing. Is that expensive, Minister?
COLLINS:
Well, obviously it depends on where they're built, Steve. And we do need to do some of them in regional and remote areas, and they are obviously more expensive. Clearly there will be a mix of housing that is appropriate. One of the things we want to do and get right is that we need to make sure they're the right houses in the right places, and that they're fit for purpose for the people who are on social housing waiting lists at the moment that need to access secure, safe housing. So, we need to make sure we get it right. There will be a mix of housing as is appropriate, and the different houses will cost different prices on where they are. We also know that having well located houses close to the city, close to jobs is important and close to educational facilities. And some of that brownfield buildings are more expensive than some of the greenfield buildings. But there'll be various costs depending on where they're located.
AUSTIN:
Appreciate your time, Minister. Thank you.
COLLINS:
Thanks very much, Steve. Thanks for having me on.