‘Brisbane, we have a problem’: Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner’s stark warning about reality of city’s housing crisis

Adrian Schrinner laid out the stark reality of Brisbane’s housing crisis and the ramifications if a well-known former Greens Councillor ousts him.

Brisbane, we have a problem.

This was the key declaration made by Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner while discussing the River City’s housing crisis and his plan to revive flagging residential construction rates.

He also made no apologies for hiking student accommodation rates by more than 200 per cent in July’s council budget, declaring operators need to pay their fair share.

Brisbane City Council introduced a new student accommodation rates category meaning rates per apartment went from $3 to $9.40 per week. It is set to impact 16 developments.

Brisbane Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner is confident his council can meet Brisbane’s future housing demand, if the state and federal government support his vision. Photo: David Clark.

“The reality is that all levels of government have had challenging budget discussions in recent years. Everything is a hard slog,” Cr Schrinner told a Property Council of Australia event in Brisbane on Thursday.

“It came to our attention that student accommodation was being massively underrated compared to virtually any other category.

“So there was an adjustment made, the percentage is a large percentage, but the dollar figure is quite small … it is accommodation we support, but ultimately it is a question of fairness and everyone contributing a fair amount to the running of the city.”

The Liberal lord mayor, who took the top job in April 2019, also warned of the “real chance” of former Greens councillor Jonathan Sriranganathan ousting him at March’s council election.

“Some of the same politicians who are complaining now that we have a housing crisis have built their careers in opposing development and the construction of new homes,” he said.

“They have spent years playing to those nimby fears of change in communities.

“There is actually a real chance that person could be lord mayor next year. Make no mistake, there are trends happening here that have a great deal of momentum and there is a real chance that situation could occur.

“The reality is housing is a critical issue and if we go for very simplistic solutions that won’t work, it will make the problems even worse – unfortunately that’s what I see my major competitor putting forward at the moment.”

Jonathan Sriranganathan (formerly Sri) confirmed this month he will be the Greens candidate for Mayor of Brisbane at the March 2024 elections. Photo: Dan Peled / NCA NewsWire.

Cr Schrinner unveiled his plan to overhaul Brisbane housing infrastructure fees on Thursday.

It offered a 75 per cent fee reduction for studio, one-bedroom and two-bedroom apartments within inner-city and major area centres or under build-to-rent schemes with an existing approval since January 1, 2022.

His scheme also involved a 50 per cent fee reduction for similar inner-city apartments approved from September 1 onwards, while 100 per cent of fees would be waived for registered community housing providers.

Cr Schrinner said since the pandemic, an extra 35,000 people have moved to Brisbane, but in the same period, rental housing numbers have decreased by almost 10,000 homes.

Brisbane is projected to welcome more than 450,000 residents in 209,000 homes between now and 2046. This requires an average of 8500 new homes to be built annually.

Cr Schrinner said council data shows there are 47,000 apartments or other attached homes approved to be built, but have not been enacted. He said feasibility is a huge challenge.

“We know there are various state taxes – like stamp duty and land tax – where relief can be provided. We have started having discussions with the state government about what can be done in this field and the Deputy Premier (Steven Miles) has been receptive,” he said.

“Infrastructure charges do fundamentally need to be reviewed because they are not working for councils, they are not working for you, I don’t think they are working for anyone.

“There needs to be a different model and I think it makes sense the federal government needs to be part of that model.”