Wicked problems need innovative solutions – could this be one of them? Photo: Ginninderry.
We all know about the housing crisis. We know the pressure is building for families, and we know that if we don’t get this problem sorted, there’s serious trouble ahead for the Canberra community.
Put simply, ordinary working people will not be able to live here if costs continue to skyrocket and availability tightens.
Last week, the Property Council assembled a powerful group of speakers for a housing summit at the University of Canberra.
Speakers ranged from Robert Pradolin, founder of the business-led Housing All Australians initiative, to the CEOs of major construction companies, such as Hindmarsh Construction, the vice chancellor of UC, Bill Shorten, and Chief Minister Andrew Barr.
But the pressing questions were simple: why does it take the ACT Government so long to deliver housing? And why aren’t we getting this right?
Despite the ACT Government’s commitment to deliver 30,000 new homes by 2030, the number of homes actually under construction in the ACT fell to 5225 in the June quarter, the lowest level recorded since 2018. The waiting list for standard public housing is now close to five years.
There are a lot of important ongoing conversations about the ‘missing middle’ and zoning changes, but while that’s welcome and important, people building the houses believe there are equally urgent questions that must be answered: where are the concessions around land or rates that make affordable developments stack up financially? Could we, for example, provide specific zoning for social and community housing that doesn’t disincentivise development?
Why does it take months, if not years, to approve projects that would be cleared in 60 days in other states?
And ultimately, where is the secure pipeline that will guarantee housing access across the community for the next quarter-century?
Catherine Loft from Infrastructure Canberra agreed the wait list for public housing was in the thousands, with alarming social consequences, but nominated a list of challenges, including planning complexity, land supply, workforce constraints and the challenge of aligning policy with supply.
She suggested the solution lies in a larger pipeline, providing confidence for private investment and avoiding the perception that public housing and private housing are somehow different.
“People in the system don’t see their needs in a separate category; it’s just one system if you need a roof over your head,” she said.
Senator Pocock noted that there are plenty of global examples of governments building, maintaining and providing affordable social housing, with no stigma or false dichotomies between public and private housing.
“You have teachers and nurses, a whole range of people living in social housing. But if you want to make that work in the private sector, then yes, I think you have to look at availability payments and concessional arrangements when it comes to the sale of land.
“Housing like the CSIRO Ginninderra proposal has to be social, has to be affordable.”
Senator Pocock described the CSIRO site as large, well-located, previously unused for housing and very well placed between Belconnen and Gungahlin. In other words, it’s ideal for a city with urgent housing needs.
“We have to think the federal and ACT governments could work together in a housing crisis, give some concessions, ensure 10 or 20 per cent of development is social or affordable,” he said.
“We just need more urgency from our politicians to get on with it.”
The Riverview Group’s massive Ginninderry development is in an interesting position, grappling with the same questions about providing a range of block types, ensuring a commercially acceptable return, and designing a liveable community, while dealing with the daily realities of differences between the ACT and NSW planning and approvals.
Their head of sustainability and community development, Jess Stewart, nominated innovative thinking, such as the mini-G tiny house proposal, built from 20 ft high cube one-trip shipping containers.
“It’s not the right solution for all housing, and I don’t think people should be relegated to shipping containers, but it’s part of that conversation about what we are building, and for whom. Whose needs are we trying to meet and how can we think outside the box?”
And as speakers noted, if we fail to get this right, the consequences for future Canberra are genuinely petrifying.
Nathan Dal Bon, CEO of Community Housing Canberra, told the summit that housing was becoming completely unaffordable for many.
“The cohort most impacted by rental increases are men and women over 65. When you look at the rental burden on someone who relies on an aged pension, good luck is all I can say. It’s a dreadful situation.”
Genevieve Jacobs is the CEO of Hands Across Canberra, the ACT’s community foundation
