Housing crisis fix: Develop vacant government land on prime Gold Coast site
Two huge blocks of government land in the northern Gold Coast should be fast tracked for multi-unit development to fix the city’s housing crisis, state parliament has been told.
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Two huge vacant blocks of government land in the northern Gold Coast should be fast tracked for multi-unit development to ease the city’s housing crisis, state parliament has been told.
The move to boost lower cost housing comes as the Opposition claims the Coast has been short changed $360 million in housing investment over the past 12 years.
But the Labor government remains opposed – saying the land is for private investment in medical initiatives – and has accused the LNP of not supporting national reforms which will help those in need.
The state-owned blocks of land are on the edge of Smith Collective in the Gold Coast Health and Knowledge Precinct on Smith Street. Both are zoned residential and next to Griffith University and the Gold Coast University Hospital.
Bonney MP Sam O’Connor, in a budget in reply speech where he attacked Labor’s failure to develop housing options, said the land has no remnant habitat, it is next to multistorey buildings, a major motorway and light rail.
Lot 1A and lot 1B in the health and knowledge precinct together add up to 16,500 sqm.
“I want this state-owned land to be used for student housing, health worker housing or a combination of both,” he told parliament.
Mr O’Connor later confirmed to the Bulletin that he has made informal approaches to government ministers about the proposal.
“It’s been over five years since the Commonwealth Games. This state land has sat empty despite being zoned for residential,” he said.
“Surely there’s some incentives they can provide to get someone to build here. And we haven’t had student housing built for Griffith University in a long time, it’s a huge need.”
Southport MP Rob Molhoek tabled a document which he says shows the Coast’s poor return on $6.7 billion worth of housing investment by the state in 12 years.
“That is for the construction of housing and the acquisition of land and capital grants to other housing providers. Over the last 12 years, the Gold Coast has received just six and a half per cent of that total – about $364 million – but the Gold Coast has 12 per cent of the state’s population,” Mr Molhoek said.
“If you do the simple maths, without even looking at what realistically should have been spent on housing supply, both affordable and public housing, the Gold Coast should have received something like $789 million on a proportionate basis. The Gold Coast has been short-changed by about $360 million.”
The Government says it has begun a land audit which will identify suitable housing sites on the Coast for low cost accommodation.
Labor says it had doubled its Housing Investment Fund (HIF), which will deliver new social and affordable homes on the returns generated from the fund.
But a similar fund proposed by the federal government, which will deliver 30,000 homes across the country, was being blocked the LNP opposition.
Housing Minister Meaghan Scanlon said: “Under the LNP’s watch, housing went backwards in this state by 428 homes. The best thing the LNP can do right now is tell Cameron Caldwell, Bert van Manen, Angie Bell and Karen Andrews to stop blocking 30,000 homes from being built.”
Originally published as Housing crisis fix: Develop vacant government land on prime Gold Coast site
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