Editorial: State’s push for ideas to boost housing stock deserves praise

Something needs to be done quickly about Queensland’s escalating housing crisis, and Treasurer Cameron Dick deserves credit for seeking outside advice, writes The Editor.

Queensland Treasurer Cameron Dick deserves credit for seeking outside advice on the best way to spend the proceeds of the government’s $2bn Housing Investment Fund.

The fund was doubled after The Courier-Mail’s successful Hitting Home campaign put a spotlight on the chronic lack of investment in Queensland housing stocks.

The announcement today that up to $130m a year in returns from the fund will be available for organisations to take up to build and deliver thousands of new homes across the state shows the government is actively looking for solutions in the private sector to the growing crisis.

To emphasise the size of the problem the Property Council has warned there would be a shortfall of 36,000 housing lots in Queensland over the next decade as interstate migration brings hundreds of thousands of people to the Sunshine State.

It is clear something needs to be done fast and looking for innovative solutions is a good first step.